A person says "You are not me, you don't know who I am! Look at where we say " I am." I am this body, this flesh, this blood. We touch our own face and skin and say I am me, I am this person, my own individual personality. Well, you are and you are not.
If you look beyond, you will see the bigger picture. What is left of you if the food you eat, the water you drink, the air you breathe is taken away from your body? What you call your "individual personality did not drop from the sky. Take away your mother and father, take away your ancestral influences you have inherited, take away all the culture, language and perceptions you have aquired: then what will be left of you? In this bigger picture, you carry within you the entire history of your evolution as well as millions of years of the future to come, the entire network of relationships, the continuous dance of life; you are much more than this small individual.
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
REAL PATRIOTISM: seeing through the false left, right political paradigm.
Edwin Vieira, Prof. Constitutional law: " The desires of the people have no consequence, they go out and they vote and it really makes no difference."
I vote for myself. No, it's not narcissistic. Neither is it egotistic. It is the one and only world the individual can change. There is no left or right, only common sense. Real change throughout history has come not from dictators and rulers chanting mindless slogans, but from the hard work and resistance of the collective hearts and minds of brave individuals. Our current political paradigm has two runners in the same race, yet financed by the same people and carrying out the same policies. Our society is built on PR, so people remember candidates for words and ideas, not the actual policies and actions that occurred.
Congressional hearing 2004: " Mr Curtis, are there programs that can be fixed to secretly rig elections? Yes."
Peoples views are dimensionally challenged with world politics and social understanding. In my experience, the so called "free thinking" individuals who speak about knowledge of the unknown are more likely to have two dimensional views; left and right only exist. That must be it then, all the potential of the human being is flat and goes in only one of two directions. Can there be no other option? I say a history lesson is in order.
James Warburg, the senates foreign relations committee: "we shall have a world government whether or not you like it."
People believe we are a democracy, they think their vote counts. Belief and understanding are two different things. Our current Presidents advisers are CFR/TLC members. Mr. Pres gets council from John Holdren, known for Eco-science where he outlines mass sterilization and food/water contamination to control the population, and Zbigniew Brzezinski who trained Bin Laden in 1981. The President with more power than king George, has CFR and the Trilateral commission at every single position in his cabinet. Note: Mr. Biden, also part of the new ruling cabinet was close with ISI director Mohammod Ahmed (director of Pakistan secret service) who wired $ 100, 000 to alleged hijacker Mohamed Atta through M16 Asset Saeed Sheikh. During the commission report they not mention Ahmed though they were mandated to, thus ignoring the plea of the families of 911.
So who is the CFR? Who controls the decision making in this country? The same financiers who have funded both sides of every war, especially in the last century. They have manufactured opposition in the left/right paradigm to give the illusion of freedom of choice, in a society that is the equivalent of human farming. Lyndon Johnson brought in CFR interest to the U.S. so much that by the early 60's they were so extensively interbred with the intelligence and other communities. The same financial powers that build the U.S into the worlds foremost superpower also created communism.
Before we discuss who they are, if you have any doubts remaining over the real intent of the CFR a good reference are statements made over the years by the CFR itself, advocating world government. For example, on 17 February, 1950, CFR member James Warburg, testifying before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, stated: "We shall have world government whether or not you like it--by conquest or consent."
The Council on Foreign Relations was formally established in Paris in 1919 along with its British Counterpart the Royal Institute of International Affairs. The Council on Foreign Relations and Royal Institute of International Affairs can trace their roots back to a secret organization founded and funded by Cecil Rhodes, who became fabulously wealthy by exploiting the people of South Africa. Rhodes is the father of Apartheid.
"The ultimate aim of the Council on Foreign Relations ... is ... to create a one world socialist system and make the United States an official part of it." -Dan Smoot, former supervising member of the FBI headquarters staff in the Washington Office
The Council on Foreign Relations was founded by a group of American and British imperialists and racists intent on ruling the world. Many of the American members were American intelligence officers that belonged to the first American Intelligence Agency -- THE INQUIRY. Many of the British members were British Intelligence Agents. THE INQUIRY and its members, who included such notable Americans as Col. Edward Mandel House, Walter Lippmann, Isaiah Bowman, and James Shotwell, wrote most of Woodrow Wilson's 14 points.
The CFR/RIIA method of operation is simple -- they control public opinion. They keep the identity of their group secret. They learn the likes and dislikes of influential people. They surround and manipulate them into acting in the best interest of the CFR/RIIA.
The Council on Foreign Relations, and the Royal Institute of International Affairs are adept at using the media to create massive psycho-political operations used to manipulate public opinion. The psycho-political operations are often designed to create tensions between different groups of people. The object is to keep the world in a state of perpetual tension and warfare to maximize profits from CFR/RIIA munition, medicine, media, energy, and food businesses.
The CFR has only 3000 members yet they control over three-quarters of the nations wealth. The CFR runs the State Department and the CIA. The CFR has placed 100 CFR members in every Presidential Administration since Woodrow Wilson. They work together to misinform and disinform the President to act in the best interest of the CFR not the best interest of the American People. At least five Presidents (Eisenhower, Ford, Carter, Bush, and Clinton) have been members of the CFR. The CFR has packed every Supreme court with CFR insiders. Three CFR members (Stephen Breyer, Ruth Bader Ginsberg, and Sandra Day O'Connor) sit on the supreme court. The CFR's British Counterpart is the Royal Institute of International Affairs. The members of these groups profit by creating tension and hate. Their targets include British and American citizens.
The 100 CFR members that surround the president are "the Secret Team." The "Secret Team" help carry out psycho-political operations scripted by CFR members in the state department and the Intelligence Organizations. The psycho-political operations are coordinated by a group of Council on Foreign Relations members called the Special Group. The Special Group evolved from the Psychological Strategy Board.
President Truman issued an executive order establishing the Psychological Strategy Board. The Board was run by CFR members Gordon Gray and Henry Kissinger. The PSB has close ties to the State Department and Intelligence Organizations. The purpose of the PSB was to co-ordinate psycho-political operations. Many of those operations were focused at Americans. The people became wary of the Psychological Strategy Board. Eisenhower issued an executive order changing its name to the Operations Coordination Board. The OCB was a bigger more powerful PSB. Gray and Kissinger ran the OCB too. President Kennedy abolished the OCB. It became an ad hoc committee called the "Special Group," which exists today. The PSB/OCB/Special Group always has CFR members running and sitting on it. Since the Special Group was not formed by Executive Order it cannot be abolished.
On September 12, 1939, the Council on Foreign Relations began to take control of the Department of State. On that day Hamilton Fish Armstrong, Editor of Foreign Affairs, and Walter H. Mallory, Executive Director of the Council on Foreign Relations, paid a visit to the State Department. The Council proposed forming groups of experts to proceed with research in the general areas of Security, Armament, Economic, Political, and Territorial problems. The State Department accepted the proposal. The project (1939-1945) was called Council on Foreign Relations War and Peace Studies. Hamilton Fish Armstrong was Executive director.
In February 1941 the CFR officially became part of the State Department. The Department of State established the Division of Special Research. It was organized just like the Council on Foreign Relations War and Peace Studies project. It was divided into Economic, Political, Territorial, and Security Sections. The Research Secretaries serving with the Council groups were hired by the State Department to work in the new division. These men also were permitted to continue serving as Research Secretaries to their respective Council groups. Leo Pasvolsky was appointed Director of Research.
In 1942 the relationship between the Department of State and the Council on Foreign Relations strengthened again. The Department organized an Advisory Committee on Postwar Foreign Policies. The Chairman was Secretary Cordell Hull, the vice chairman, Under Secretary Sumner Wells, Dr. Leo Pasvolsky ( director of the Division of Special Research) was appointed Executive Officer. Several experts were brought in from outside the Department. The outside experts were Council on Foreign Relations War and Peace Studies members; Hamilton Fish Armstrong, Isaiah Bowman, Benjamin V. Cohen, Norman H. Davis, and James T. Shotwell.
In total there were 362 meetings of the War and Peace Studies groups. The meetings were held at Council on Foreign Relations headquarters -- the Harold Pratt house, Fifty-Eight East Sixty-Eighth Street, New York City. The Council's wartime work was confidential.17
In 1944 members of the Council on Foreign Relations The War and Peace Studies Political Group were invited to be active members at the Dumbarton Oaks conference on world economic arrangements. In 1945 these men and members of Britain's Royal Institute of International Affairs were active at the San Francisco conference which ensured the establishment of the United Nations.
In 1947 Council on Foreign Relations members George Kennan, Walter Lippmann, Paul Nitze, Dean Achenson, and Walter Krock took part in a psycho-political operation forcing the Marshall Plan on the American public. The PSYOP included a "anonymous" letter credited to a Mr. X, which appeared in the Council on Foreign Relations magazine FOREIGN AFFAIRS. The letter opened the door for the CFR controlled Truman administration to take a hard line against the threat of Soviet expansion. George Kennan was the author of the letter. The Marshall Plan should have been called the Council on Foreign Relations Plan. The so-called Marshall Plan and the ensuing North Atlantic Treaty Organization defined the role of the United States in world politics for the rest of the century.
In 1950 another PSYOP resulted in NSC-68, a key cold war document. The NSC (National Security Council) didn't write it -- the Department of State Policy Planning Staff did. The cast of characters included CFR members George Kennan, Paul Nitze, and Dean Achenson. NSC-68 was given to Truman on April 7, 1950. NSC-68 was a practical extension of the Truman doctrine. It had the US assume the role of world policeman and use 20 per cent of its gross national product ($50 billion in 1953) for arms. NSC-68 provided the justification -- the WORLD WIDE COMMUNIST THREAT!
NSC-68 realized a major Council on Foreign Relations aim -- building the largest military establishment in Peace Time History. Within a year of drafting NSC-68, the security-related budget leaped to $22 billion, armed forces manpower was up to a million -- CFR medicine, munition, food, and media businesses were humming again. The following year the NSC-68 budget rose to $44 billion. In fiscal 1953 it jumped to $50 billion. Today (1997) we are still running $300 billion dollar defense budgets despite Russia giving up because it went bankrupt.
America would never turn back from the road of huge military spending. Spending that included the purchase of radioactive fallout on American citizens in the 50's, and buying thermonuclear waste from the Russians as we approach the year 2000. Spending resulting in a national debt of $5.5 Trillion Dollars that continues to grow, and interest payments of over $270 billion a year. Is the Council on Foreign Relations trying to make the United States economically vulnerable to influence from outside sources? Isn't that treason?
The way to make a difference is not in a voting booth . Difference s are made by saying no, that is not acceptable . Change is made by protest. When political power loses hold of the reign s of the populace, the oligarchy in charge has no choice but to concede.
Note on Trilateral commision:
As author Holly Sklar has noted, in “1973 the Trilateral Commission was founded by David Rockefeller, Chase Manhattan Bank chairman, Zbigniew Brzezinski, Carter’s national security advisor, and other like-minded ‘eminent private citizens (like George H.W.Bush)’ Some 300 members (up from about 200 members in 1973) are drawn from international business and banking, government, academia, media, and conservative labor. The Commission’s purpose is to engineer an enduring partnership among the ruling classes of North American, Western Europe, and Japan—hence the term ‘trilateral’—in order to safeguard the interests of Western capitalism in an explosive world. The private Trilateral Commission is attempting to mold public policy and construct a framework for international stability in the coming decades.
"Anarchists know that a long period of education must precede any great fundamental change in society, hence they do not believe in vote begging, nor political campaigns, but rather in the development of self-thinking individuals." Lucy Parsons
I vote for myself. No, it's not narcissistic. Neither is it egotistic. It is the one and only world the individual can change. There is no left or right, only common sense. Real change throughout history has come not from dictators and rulers chanting mindless slogans, but from the hard work and resistance of the collective hearts and minds of brave individuals. Our current political paradigm has two runners in the same race, yet financed by the same people and carrying out the same policies. Our society is built on PR, so people remember candidates for words and ideas, not the actual policies and actions that occurred.
Congressional hearing 2004: " Mr Curtis, are there programs that can be fixed to secretly rig elections? Yes."
Peoples views are dimensionally challenged with world politics and social understanding. In my experience, the so called "free thinking" individuals who speak about knowledge of the unknown are more likely to have two dimensional views; left and right only exist. That must be it then, all the potential of the human being is flat and goes in only one of two directions. Can there be no other option? I say a history lesson is in order.
James Warburg, the senates foreign relations committee: "we shall have a world government whether or not you like it."
People believe we are a democracy, they think their vote counts. Belief and understanding are two different things. Our current Presidents advisers are CFR/TLC members. Mr. Pres gets council from John Holdren, known for Eco-science where he outlines mass sterilization and food/water contamination to control the population, and Zbigniew Brzezinski who trained Bin Laden in 1981. The President with more power than king George, has CFR and the Trilateral commission at every single position in his cabinet. Note: Mr. Biden, also part of the new ruling cabinet was close with ISI director Mohammod Ahmed (director of Pakistan secret service) who wired $ 100, 000 to alleged hijacker Mohamed Atta through M16 Asset Saeed Sheikh. During the commission report they not mention Ahmed though they were mandated to, thus ignoring the plea of the families of 911.
So who is the CFR? Who controls the decision making in this country? The same financiers who have funded both sides of every war, especially in the last century. They have manufactured opposition in the left/right paradigm to give the illusion of freedom of choice, in a society that is the equivalent of human farming. Lyndon Johnson brought in CFR interest to the U.S. so much that by the early 60's they were so extensively interbred with the intelligence and other communities. The same financial powers that build the U.S into the worlds foremost superpower also created communism.
Before we discuss who they are, if you have any doubts remaining over the real intent of the CFR a good reference are statements made over the years by the CFR itself, advocating world government. For example, on 17 February, 1950, CFR member James Warburg, testifying before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, stated: "We shall have world government whether or not you like it--by conquest or consent."
The Council on Foreign Relations was formally established in Paris in 1919 along with its British Counterpart the Royal Institute of International Affairs. The Council on Foreign Relations and Royal Institute of International Affairs can trace their roots back to a secret organization founded and funded by Cecil Rhodes, who became fabulously wealthy by exploiting the people of South Africa. Rhodes is the father of Apartheid.
"The ultimate aim of the Council on Foreign Relations ... is ... to create a one world socialist system and make the United States an official part of it." -Dan Smoot, former supervising member of the FBI headquarters staff in the Washington Office
The Council on Foreign Relations was founded by a group of American and British imperialists and racists intent on ruling the world. Many of the American members were American intelligence officers that belonged to the first American Intelligence Agency -- THE INQUIRY. Many of the British members were British Intelligence Agents. THE INQUIRY and its members, who included such notable Americans as Col. Edward Mandel House, Walter Lippmann, Isaiah Bowman, and James Shotwell, wrote most of Woodrow Wilson's 14 points.
The CFR/RIIA method of operation is simple -- they control public opinion. They keep the identity of their group secret. They learn the likes and dislikes of influential people. They surround and manipulate them into acting in the best interest of the CFR/RIIA.
The Council on Foreign Relations, and the Royal Institute of International Affairs are adept at using the media to create massive psycho-political operations used to manipulate public opinion. The psycho-political operations are often designed to create tensions between different groups of people. The object is to keep the world in a state of perpetual tension and warfare to maximize profits from CFR/RIIA munition, medicine, media, energy, and food businesses.
The CFR has only 3000 members yet they control over three-quarters of the nations wealth. The CFR runs the State Department and the CIA. The CFR has placed 100 CFR members in every Presidential Administration since Woodrow Wilson. They work together to misinform and disinform the President to act in the best interest of the CFR not the best interest of the American People. At least five Presidents (Eisenhower, Ford, Carter, Bush, and Clinton) have been members of the CFR. The CFR has packed every Supreme court with CFR insiders. Three CFR members (Stephen Breyer, Ruth Bader Ginsberg, and Sandra Day O'Connor) sit on the supreme court. The CFR's British Counterpart is the Royal Institute of International Affairs. The members of these groups profit by creating tension and hate. Their targets include British and American citizens.
The 100 CFR members that surround the president are "the Secret Team." The "Secret Team" help carry out psycho-political operations scripted by CFR members in the state department and the Intelligence Organizations. The psycho-political operations are coordinated by a group of Council on Foreign Relations members called the Special Group. The Special Group evolved from the Psychological Strategy Board.
President Truman issued an executive order establishing the Psychological Strategy Board. The Board was run by CFR members Gordon Gray and Henry Kissinger. The PSB has close ties to the State Department and Intelligence Organizations. The purpose of the PSB was to co-ordinate psycho-political operations. Many of those operations were focused at Americans. The people became wary of the Psychological Strategy Board. Eisenhower issued an executive order changing its name to the Operations Coordination Board. The OCB was a bigger more powerful PSB. Gray and Kissinger ran the OCB too. President Kennedy abolished the OCB. It became an ad hoc committee called the "Special Group," which exists today. The PSB/OCB/Special Group always has CFR members running and sitting on it. Since the Special Group was not formed by Executive Order it cannot be abolished.
On September 12, 1939, the Council on Foreign Relations began to take control of the Department of State. On that day Hamilton Fish Armstrong, Editor of Foreign Affairs, and Walter H. Mallory, Executive Director of the Council on Foreign Relations, paid a visit to the State Department. The Council proposed forming groups of experts to proceed with research in the general areas of Security, Armament, Economic, Political, and Territorial problems. The State Department accepted the proposal. The project (1939-1945) was called Council on Foreign Relations War and Peace Studies. Hamilton Fish Armstrong was Executive director.
In February 1941 the CFR officially became part of the State Department. The Department of State established the Division of Special Research. It was organized just like the Council on Foreign Relations War and Peace Studies project. It was divided into Economic, Political, Territorial, and Security Sections. The Research Secretaries serving with the Council groups were hired by the State Department to work in the new division. These men also were permitted to continue serving as Research Secretaries to their respective Council groups. Leo Pasvolsky was appointed Director of Research.
In 1942 the relationship between the Department of State and the Council on Foreign Relations strengthened again. The Department organized an Advisory Committee on Postwar Foreign Policies. The Chairman was Secretary Cordell Hull, the vice chairman, Under Secretary Sumner Wells, Dr. Leo Pasvolsky ( director of the Division of Special Research) was appointed Executive Officer. Several experts were brought in from outside the Department. The outside experts were Council on Foreign Relations War and Peace Studies members; Hamilton Fish Armstrong, Isaiah Bowman, Benjamin V. Cohen, Norman H. Davis, and James T. Shotwell.
In total there were 362 meetings of the War and Peace Studies groups. The meetings were held at Council on Foreign Relations headquarters -- the Harold Pratt house, Fifty-Eight East Sixty-Eighth Street, New York City. The Council's wartime work was confidential.17
In 1944 members of the Council on Foreign Relations The War and Peace Studies Political Group were invited to be active members at the Dumbarton Oaks conference on world economic arrangements. In 1945 these men and members of Britain's Royal Institute of International Affairs were active at the San Francisco conference which ensured the establishment of the United Nations.
In 1947 Council on Foreign Relations members George Kennan, Walter Lippmann, Paul Nitze, Dean Achenson, and Walter Krock took part in a psycho-political operation forcing the Marshall Plan on the American public. The PSYOP included a "anonymous" letter credited to a Mr. X, which appeared in the Council on Foreign Relations magazine FOREIGN AFFAIRS. The letter opened the door for the CFR controlled Truman administration to take a hard line against the threat of Soviet expansion. George Kennan was the author of the letter. The Marshall Plan should have been called the Council on Foreign Relations Plan. The so-called Marshall Plan and the ensuing North Atlantic Treaty Organization defined the role of the United States in world politics for the rest of the century.
In 1950 another PSYOP resulted in NSC-68, a key cold war document. The NSC (National Security Council) didn't write it -- the Department of State Policy Planning Staff did. The cast of characters included CFR members George Kennan, Paul Nitze, and Dean Achenson. NSC-68 was given to Truman on April 7, 1950. NSC-68 was a practical extension of the Truman doctrine. It had the US assume the role of world policeman and use 20 per cent of its gross national product ($50 billion in 1953) for arms. NSC-68 provided the justification -- the WORLD WIDE COMMUNIST THREAT!
NSC-68 realized a major Council on Foreign Relations aim -- building the largest military establishment in Peace Time History. Within a year of drafting NSC-68, the security-related budget leaped to $22 billion, armed forces manpower was up to a million -- CFR medicine, munition, food, and media businesses were humming again. The following year the NSC-68 budget rose to $44 billion. In fiscal 1953 it jumped to $50 billion. Today (1997) we are still running $300 billion dollar defense budgets despite Russia giving up because it went bankrupt.
America would never turn back from the road of huge military spending. Spending that included the purchase of radioactive fallout on American citizens in the 50's, and buying thermonuclear waste from the Russians as we approach the year 2000. Spending resulting in a national debt of $5.5 Trillion Dollars that continues to grow, and interest payments of over $270 billion a year. Is the Council on Foreign Relations trying to make the United States economically vulnerable to influence from outside sources? Isn't that treason?
The way to make a difference is not in a voting booth . Difference s are made by saying no, that is not acceptable . Change is made by protest. When political power loses hold of the reign s of the populace, the oligarchy in charge has no choice but to concede.
Note on Trilateral commision:
As author Holly Sklar has noted, in “1973 the Trilateral Commission was founded by David Rockefeller, Chase Manhattan Bank chairman, Zbigniew Brzezinski, Carter’s national security advisor, and other like-minded ‘eminent private citizens (like George H.W.Bush)’ Some 300 members (up from about 200 members in 1973) are drawn from international business and banking, government, academia, media, and conservative labor. The Commission’s purpose is to engineer an enduring partnership among the ruling classes of North American, Western Europe, and Japan—hence the term ‘trilateral’—in order to safeguard the interests of Western capitalism in an explosive world. The private Trilateral Commission is attempting to mold public policy and construct a framework for international stability in the coming decades.
"Anarchists know that a long period of education must precede any great fundamental change in society, hence they do not believe in vote begging, nor political campaigns, but rather in the development of self-thinking individuals." Lucy Parsons
Aspirin
For people who use various forms of aspirin, such as BC Powder, Bayer brand, Excedrin, and Advil, they are risking their health for short term pain relief. Yes, you may obtain the illusion of pain relief, but do you know how the various aspirins work against pain? ANSWER: By deadening your nerves! Long term aspirin use is sure to corrode your nerves and entire nervous system leading to certain central nervous system pathologies such as Parkinson’s Disease and Alzheimer’s Disease, and even stroke.
Aspirin breaks down or converts into ascetic acid inside the body and eats up red blood cells, just like white distilled vinegar does. Therefore, aspirin use pollutes the blood which is the essence of life. In addition to polluting and eating up the blood, aspirin greatly thins the blood. Many people take aspirin daily as a blood thinner.
Some people’s arteries are so clogged, rather than cleansing the arteries in order to improve or enhance blood flow, doctors unwisely prescribe aspirin to thin the blood which is very dangerous because lack of blood equals lack of oxygen flow, and lack of oxygen flow to the brain will undoubtedly result in stroke.
Aspirin use also causes intestinal and stomach ulcers. Aspirin burns a hole through the lining of the intestines and the stomach causing internal wounds (ulcers) and bleeding. Drinking cabbage juice is the best remedy for this problem. Aloe vera juice will also help to heal ulcers.
One serious but hidden problem that is commonly overlooked is that of drug-induced nutritional deficiencies. Aspirin is a glaring example of this problem. It is an antinutrient. Marketed and prescribed for daily use to prevent heart attack, aspirin depletes the body of the life-saving nutrient folic acid (as well as iron, potassium, sodium, and vitamin C). Symptoms of folic acid depletion include anemia, birth defects, elevated homocysteine (itself a significant risk factor for heart disease), headache, fatigue, hair loss, insomnia, diarrhea, and increased infection.
This should be taken as a warning about this drug and it should not be taken lightly. Studies show that the side effects of aspirin are so severe they can increase the risk of death in people who take it regularly.
Many people have been using an aspirin a day to prevent a stroke and heart attack. But a recent major study in Canada found it may actually increase the risk of stroke and heart attack in 40% of the people who took it! It also shows that such long- term aspirin use can make you blind by increasing your risk of macular degeneration, and even increasing your risk of cataracts by up to 44 percent. Three other studies from Germany, Britain, and the U.S. support these discoveries.
Aspirin breaks down or converts into ascetic acid inside the body and eats up red blood cells, just like white distilled vinegar does. Therefore, aspirin use pollutes the blood which is the essence of life. In addition to polluting and eating up the blood, aspirin greatly thins the blood. Many people take aspirin daily as a blood thinner.
Some people’s arteries are so clogged, rather than cleansing the arteries in order to improve or enhance blood flow, doctors unwisely prescribe aspirin to thin the blood which is very dangerous because lack of blood equals lack of oxygen flow, and lack of oxygen flow to the brain will undoubtedly result in stroke.
Aspirin use also causes intestinal and stomach ulcers. Aspirin burns a hole through the lining of the intestines and the stomach causing internal wounds (ulcers) and bleeding. Drinking cabbage juice is the best remedy for this problem. Aloe vera juice will also help to heal ulcers.
One serious but hidden problem that is commonly overlooked is that of drug-induced nutritional deficiencies. Aspirin is a glaring example of this problem. It is an antinutrient. Marketed and prescribed for daily use to prevent heart attack, aspirin depletes the body of the life-saving nutrient folic acid (as well as iron, potassium, sodium, and vitamin C). Symptoms of folic acid depletion include anemia, birth defects, elevated homocysteine (itself a significant risk factor for heart disease), headache, fatigue, hair loss, insomnia, diarrhea, and increased infection.
This should be taken as a warning about this drug and it should not be taken lightly. Studies show that the side effects of aspirin are so severe they can increase the risk of death in people who take it regularly.
Many people have been using an aspirin a day to prevent a stroke and heart attack. But a recent major study in Canada found it may actually increase the risk of stroke and heart attack in 40% of the people who took it! It also shows that such long- term aspirin use can make you blind by increasing your risk of macular degeneration, and even increasing your risk of cataracts by up to 44 percent. Three other studies from Germany, Britain, and the U.S. support these discoveries.
Happiness, truly.
Happiness has no reason, happiness cannot have a reason to it. If happiness has a reason to it, it is not happiness at all. Happiness can only be without any reason uncaused. When you talk about moments of happiness they are not really moments of happiness but rather moments of less misery. We easily give up happiness for misery. Review past experiences, give your awareness to emotional tendencies, conditioned love and relationships, how if we really wanted to be happy we would simply align ourselves with it. But rather we relinquish the ability to feel happy from within for something that makes us feel miserable.
There is only one happiness, one joy and it is not dependent upon your perspective and distracting pleasures to exist. Everyday we strive to find new ways to feel valid, full and thriving. Instead of knowing the value of emptiness, uselessness. People are afraid of being empty, of losing that which they identify with even though it is that very thing which brings them grief; association. when you are nothing you will become all, dissolve and you will become whole. Claim that you are and you will be miserable. Happiness needs only understanding, no other cause. And understanding is also not a cause of it- understanding simply unveils it; it is inside you.
But when we can't get what we want we aren't happy, yet even when we get exactly what we are we still aren't happy because we can't hold onto it forever. And with people, we can't control them so anything outside our realm of association with them leaves us in a angry state. If a person cannot act and behave as we see fit, we are not happy. Key word " we are not happy." Life is uncertain, we are not in control of people, circumstances, we are only in control of ourselves. And we choose what to feel. Become comfortable with uncertainty.
A quick story: Paradox, humor and change. Life is a mystery don't waste time trying to figure it out, keep a sense of humor especially about yourself and know nothing stays the same. The student said to his teacher, " after thinking I had it all, after losing my friends, my girl how do I know what really makes me happy?" The teacher replied, " I have a place I'd love to show you I think you'll be pleased." The next day they arrived on a hill after 3 hours of traveling. Where are we said the student? This is what I wanted to show you, said the teacher. But what did we come to see? Looking around, the teacher glanced down and said " next to your foot." The rock? Yes said the teacher. Come on this is what you wanted to show me, that I would be please with? We traveled for 3 hours! But the entire time up here you were as excited as kid on Christmas morning, you've been talking about it all day the teacher said. Why are you upset? Because for the past 3 hours Ive been waiting to see this wonderful thing and obviously you had no idea where we were going. The teacher replied, well I wasn't sure where we were going, or what we were going to see. Sorry you're not happy anymore the teacher said. The student thought about it, realizing his moods were based on distractions, what could be or might be instead of what is. Fabrications of the mind, the intangible, existential musings of the unreal. Coming to this realization he turns to the teacher and says " the journey.. the journey is what brings us happiness, not the destination." The teacher smiled.
Unhappiness is our minds creation or version of reality and preconceptions against what really is. And suffering comes when we cannot accept what really is but choose to invest in the non existent version we preferred in our heads to be the outcome of circumstances. On a religious and scientific level all of life is a whole, directly impacted by and impacting the entire cosmos. The idea of separation is what we call ego. We believe we are separate in many ways from all things, especially each other but this couldn't be further from the truth. When the part exists in the whole, everything is harmonious. When the part starts existing on its own, everything becomes disharmonious, there is discord, conflict, confusion. To take our mind and create a path in finite thinking that has nothing to do with the reality that is taking place before us is an example of this. When you are not fused with the whole, there is confusion. If the fusion is not happening with he whole, there is bound to be confusion. Whenever you are not with the whole you are unhappy. Let this be a definition of happiness: to be with the whole is to be happy, to be with the whole is to be healthy, to be with the whole is to be holy. To be separate is antagonist to all of those qualities.
Emptiness: The thirty spokes unite in the one nave; but it is on the empty space (for the axle), that the use of the wheel depends. Clay is fashioned into vessels; but it is on their empty hollowness, that their use depends. The door and windows are cut out (from the walls) to form an apartment; but it is on the empty space (within), that its use depends. Therefore, what has a (positive) existence serves for profitable adaptation, and what has not that for (actual) usefulness.
The utility of the wheel, as of everything in the Universe, depends also on its empty space. In other words, everything is made of emptiness and fullness. This is the philosophical view of the Universe taught by the Taoists.
If there is a cause to happiness then happiness is in the past. Causes are found in the past. If you are happy. the question is " what has made you happy?" and that which has made you happy has gone into the past. So a caused happiness is past oriented. Past oriented means that which is no morel it is fictitious, it is imaginary, it is illusory.
The real happiness is present oriented, it is never past oriented. The real happiness arises here now, this very moment, there is no time for it to be caused. It is cause and effect all together. try to understand it. If you say " I am happy because I was given a noble prize ten years ago- your happiness is very dusty. Ten years.. so much dust has accumulated; it is not fresh, its gloating in the past, not living in the now. You are a poor person in spirit and life if you are eating food from ten years ago. The real happiness is here now. It has no concern with the past, it has no concern of the future. Sometimes you become happy about the future: you are hoping that you are going to win the lottery, or get married, or that your girlfriend is coming tomorrow and you are getting excited. For what? For tomorrow, which has not come yet ? One must be mad. Either your happiness is past or future oriented; both are false because neither exist. Real authentic happiness is here now, a conscious elevation beyond responding emotions where we choose to be happy, even in our darkness, even in our challenges to still maintain a joyful mind. Happiness arises out of this moment, out of nowhere. Because for cause and effect to exist, at least two moments are needed: one to cause it, another to effect it. But only this moment- total, alone, single- is available.
Embrace emptiness, for emptiness creates form, form manifests the whole. The space in a note, the gaps in your breath, the void in a pot, the walk through of a door all demonstrate the value of emptiness. Be useless, in uselessness there is the complete potential of use but more so the unattached flow of the changing constant called life. A tree that does not fit the needs of a lumber jack is free to continue living because it is useless, a small deer who does not fit the needs of a hunter keeps its precious life do to its uselessness, a person who does not have material possessiveness cannot suffer a lack of theft due to their uselessness. This is not avoiding life, this is living it at its most fundamental level. Finally don't be happy because you have your health, your partner, your job or your life for all these things are transient. Be happy because happiness is being.
There is only one happiness, one joy and it is not dependent upon your perspective and distracting pleasures to exist. Everyday we strive to find new ways to feel valid, full and thriving. Instead of knowing the value of emptiness, uselessness. People are afraid of being empty, of losing that which they identify with even though it is that very thing which brings them grief; association. when you are nothing you will become all, dissolve and you will become whole. Claim that you are and you will be miserable. Happiness needs only understanding, no other cause. And understanding is also not a cause of it- understanding simply unveils it; it is inside you.
But when we can't get what we want we aren't happy, yet even when we get exactly what we are we still aren't happy because we can't hold onto it forever. And with people, we can't control them so anything outside our realm of association with them leaves us in a angry state. If a person cannot act and behave as we see fit, we are not happy. Key word " we are not happy." Life is uncertain, we are not in control of people, circumstances, we are only in control of ourselves. And we choose what to feel. Become comfortable with uncertainty.
A quick story: Paradox, humor and change. Life is a mystery don't waste time trying to figure it out, keep a sense of humor especially about yourself and know nothing stays the same. The student said to his teacher, " after thinking I had it all, after losing my friends, my girl how do I know what really makes me happy?" The teacher replied, " I have a place I'd love to show you I think you'll be pleased." The next day they arrived on a hill after 3 hours of traveling. Where are we said the student? This is what I wanted to show you, said the teacher. But what did we come to see? Looking around, the teacher glanced down and said " next to your foot." The rock? Yes said the teacher. Come on this is what you wanted to show me, that I would be please with? We traveled for 3 hours! But the entire time up here you were as excited as kid on Christmas morning, you've been talking about it all day the teacher said. Why are you upset? Because for the past 3 hours Ive been waiting to see this wonderful thing and obviously you had no idea where we were going. The teacher replied, well I wasn't sure where we were going, or what we were going to see. Sorry you're not happy anymore the teacher said. The student thought about it, realizing his moods were based on distractions, what could be or might be instead of what is. Fabrications of the mind, the intangible, existential musings of the unreal. Coming to this realization he turns to the teacher and says " the journey.. the journey is what brings us happiness, not the destination." The teacher smiled.
Unhappiness is our minds creation or version of reality and preconceptions against what really is. And suffering comes when we cannot accept what really is but choose to invest in the non existent version we preferred in our heads to be the outcome of circumstances. On a religious and scientific level all of life is a whole, directly impacted by and impacting the entire cosmos. The idea of separation is what we call ego. We believe we are separate in many ways from all things, especially each other but this couldn't be further from the truth. When the part exists in the whole, everything is harmonious. When the part starts existing on its own, everything becomes disharmonious, there is discord, conflict, confusion. To take our mind and create a path in finite thinking that has nothing to do with the reality that is taking place before us is an example of this. When you are not fused with the whole, there is confusion. If the fusion is not happening with he whole, there is bound to be confusion. Whenever you are not with the whole you are unhappy. Let this be a definition of happiness: to be with the whole is to be happy, to be with the whole is to be healthy, to be with the whole is to be holy. To be separate is antagonist to all of those qualities.
Emptiness: The thirty spokes unite in the one nave; but it is on the empty space (for the axle), that the use of the wheel depends. Clay is fashioned into vessels; but it is on their empty hollowness, that their use depends. The door and windows are cut out (from the walls) to form an apartment; but it is on the empty space (within), that its use depends. Therefore, what has a (positive) existence serves for profitable adaptation, and what has not that for (actual) usefulness.
The utility of the wheel, as of everything in the Universe, depends also on its empty space. In other words, everything is made of emptiness and fullness. This is the philosophical view of the Universe taught by the Taoists.
If there is a cause to happiness then happiness is in the past. Causes are found in the past. If you are happy. the question is " what has made you happy?" and that which has made you happy has gone into the past. So a caused happiness is past oriented. Past oriented means that which is no morel it is fictitious, it is imaginary, it is illusory.
The real happiness is present oriented, it is never past oriented. The real happiness arises here now, this very moment, there is no time for it to be caused. It is cause and effect all together. try to understand it. If you say " I am happy because I was given a noble prize ten years ago- your happiness is very dusty. Ten years.. so much dust has accumulated; it is not fresh, its gloating in the past, not living in the now. You are a poor person in spirit and life if you are eating food from ten years ago. The real happiness is here now. It has no concern with the past, it has no concern of the future. Sometimes you become happy about the future: you are hoping that you are going to win the lottery, or get married, or that your girlfriend is coming tomorrow and you are getting excited. For what? For tomorrow, which has not come yet ? One must be mad. Either your happiness is past or future oriented; both are false because neither exist. Real authentic happiness is here now, a conscious elevation beyond responding emotions where we choose to be happy, even in our darkness, even in our challenges to still maintain a joyful mind. Happiness arises out of this moment, out of nowhere. Because for cause and effect to exist, at least two moments are needed: one to cause it, another to effect it. But only this moment- total, alone, single- is available.
Embrace emptiness, for emptiness creates form, form manifests the whole. The space in a note, the gaps in your breath, the void in a pot, the walk through of a door all demonstrate the value of emptiness. Be useless, in uselessness there is the complete potential of use but more so the unattached flow of the changing constant called life. A tree that does not fit the needs of a lumber jack is free to continue living because it is useless, a small deer who does not fit the needs of a hunter keeps its precious life do to its uselessness, a person who does not have material possessiveness cannot suffer a lack of theft due to their uselessness. This is not avoiding life, this is living it at its most fundamental level. Finally don't be happy because you have your health, your partner, your job or your life for all these things are transient. Be happy because happiness is being.
The warriors way of eating
The Warriors way of eating is how I describe the way I eat, especially on the days when I am busy and want to be productive. This diet consists of small meals eaten every two to three hours throughout the day. These are simple meals involving simple foods, such as a handful of nuts, seeds, an apple, avocado, kale and living raw shake. Consuming the contents of one small to medium snack should generate sufficient fuel to continue energetically along the day's path. The consciousness of the diet is based around a vegan, raw and living diet, though many vegans do not realize the food they eat has been pollinated by bees, brought to the farms and used to make the food. I believe these diets present the best quality of nutrition and regulate the immune system, but many vegan and raw foodist's end up with long term problems due to lack of vitamin B12, calcium and other sources. Unless the diet is very balanced, it will not work out.
A warrior is always ready for action, with energy available whenever he or she is called. Big meals or lots of different foods can act as a mental and physical sedative, as they cause a lot of our energy and blood to be shunted to our abdomen ( liver, stomach, intestines) to digest and assimilate our food. The warrior eats large meals more in rituals such as family events, gatherings, celebrations. ( Think of animals such as deer who eat light, small quantities of energy ready food such as grass and sprouts and are always vibrant and fast paced; compared to the carnivore who eats the deer, and then sleeps most of the day as carnivorous animals do to integrate all the waste and dead meat in their system)
The warriors concept is that food is our fuel; a living force of its own that becomes part of us once consumed. Each item of food you eat has a personality a make up that is as unique as you are. We give our body what it needs for continued combustion and energy. When I refer to being a warrior, I am talking about embracing the challenges of life with feeling and passion. Food nourishment should support this and not devitalize us or generate excess aggressiveness or moodiness.
A warrior is always ready for action, with energy available whenever he or she is called. Big meals or lots of different foods can act as a mental and physical sedative, as they cause a lot of our energy and blood to be shunted to our abdomen ( liver, stomach, intestines) to digest and assimilate our food. The warrior eats large meals more in rituals such as family events, gatherings, celebrations. ( Think of animals such as deer who eat light, small quantities of energy ready food such as grass and sprouts and are always vibrant and fast paced; compared to the carnivore who eats the deer, and then sleeps most of the day as carnivorous animals do to integrate all the waste and dead meat in their system)
The warriors concept is that food is our fuel; a living force of its own that becomes part of us once consumed. Each item of food you eat has a personality a make up that is as unique as you are. We give our body what it needs for continued combustion and energy. When I refer to being a warrior, I am talking about embracing the challenges of life with feeling and passion. Food nourishment should support this and not devitalize us or generate excess aggressiveness or moodiness.
Mindful eating, spiritual practice
 The way I eat may seem spartan to some, but I take real pleasure in what I eat because I've developed the capacity to enjoy the simplest foods. Eating is a deep practice, a truly sacred act. It connects the physical world with the unknown or the spiritual as some call it. I choose not to discuss religious or ideological eating, but if we are going to use ideas and theories to support our choices we must be consistent if we wish to not look foolish. I may not know everything about my body, of this time or universe, but I do know from experience that mindful eating and proper nutrition heals and gives life to this body. The quality of our body and thinking share a personal relationship to our food. As we shed old, stressful beliefs and repressed emotional tendencies, we become sensitive to the interconnectedness with the world and others. Naturally during this process our diet will change. As our diet changes, other areas of our life also being to expand. The food we eat and our choice to consume are constantly interacting with our state of consciousness. Any improvement we make in our diet represents a very real form of spiritual progress. Your body is built of an infinite number of molecular planets which are inhabited by an infinite number of beings no less conscious than yourself. Be good to yourself- Viktoras H. Kulvinskas There are those who seem very happy in their position and do as they please. They may say things like 'I will eat whatever I want because life is short" or " I'm living life to its fullest" or " When God wants to take me he will". These are hollow, empty words. They are also, in essence, contradictory to the acceptance of life that we call faith. Many people think with their head, instead of their body in total. As the body aches and feels pain, the mind continues to produce the actions that further the pain; this is almost masochistic in nature. The mind does not want the responsibility of connecting our choices to our current painful state. The mind does not want responsibility , the mind wants to be free and do as it wishes. But it is so fragile because the second you challenge that mindset, it falls apart and emotion overrides logic. When emotions are dominate, the mind is in control and the senses are dead. We lose the sense that we are connected to others and our environment. We should learn to become sensitive to subtly. Learn to enjoy the entire process of eating; the hunger beforehand, the careful preparation, chewing, breathing, smelling, tasting, swallowing and feeling light and energetic after you eat. The irony with those who believe they enjoy food is most people will fear missing a meal, yet they are not fully aware of the meals they do eat. And if we are not aware in life, we will not be aware in death. We must be more than a slave to our tendencies and dogmatic in our choices. When the state of our thinking and the state of our body are out of sync there is a mis-communication happening. You may trick your mind into believing you enjoy life, but it is a nervous distraction to numb the fear of death. Just as the happiness projected is more so less misery than unreasonable happiness. Clinging to food, beliefs, choices that bring no change is like never leaving home. It is choosing to operate within a small box of predictable behaviors. It is fear of change, and the fears of change are the branches growing from the fear of death. Death is not sad, what is sad is that some never choose to actually live. Living isn't being physically present throughout the events of your life; it is an act of awareness and presence that allows one to contribute and connect with others and their surroundings. To truly be human we must refine every human function; sleeping, eating, breathing, thinking, walking and so on. Eat as you please, but do not blame the seasons and time for your degeneration. Do not cop out of responsibility by exclaiming unseen forces may do as they wish and that your choices are a series of predetermined events you have no control over. This is directly asserting the omnipotent powers of divinity into the arena of our awareness, saying what you see and think is ultimate truth. Yet your disregard for life through ignoring the suffering of the body is wasting a gift from that which you believe created you. I pay little attention to people who do not understand the understandable such as food and health, yet proclaim to understand the unseen and mystical forces we are unable to comprehend. Many people view the spiritual separate from the physical and do not accept the world they see. They console themselves that something better will come and this ultimately doesn't matter. They suffer life rather than live it. And the suffering is a result of distortion. They have mistaken their view of life and death for what it actually is. They now little to nothing of the worlds that exist within them. Disillusioned they proudly choose to stay on a sinking ship because they never took they never wanted to learn to swim. The most spiritual thing one can do is nourish their life through proper sustenance. It means doing more for your being than your car, more so than your house or belongings so you can honor and treasure the gift of life by consciously providing for it. So many would injure another person to protect their money and belongings, but little realize the devastation they do to their own person through ignore-ant consumption. Consumption that poisons the body, kills the cells and is in essence, anti-life. To see the life in your food, in the mystery that is you and to preserve, respect and give to your body daily is to resonate and be natural with the deepest truth there is.. Love. For me, living life to its fullest does not mean clinging to old habits, and poor results form those choices. It means braving the unknown, becoming more of myself by giving and expanding. It means becoming human by learning to develop my senses through a quieting of the mind. I have a faith that things are as they should be, that through the development of my mind and body I can become more awakened to the blessings of this life and live in accordance with what is natural. After all, what is natural is created by and a part of the ultimate, and there is no deeper connection than the natural connection to our source. |
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Posture awareness
A good stance and posture reflect a proper state of mind. - Morehei Ueshiba
Proper posture is a way of blending with gravity, proper attitude is a way of blending with life- Dan Millman
Posture is not only involved our relationship to gravity as well as our relationship to stillness and motion. Posture has great impact on digestion, breathing and even our emotions. In a profession that directly deals with the alignment of the body, I often speak of the relationship to posture and exercise, whether stretching or resistance training. Whatever we do as exercise is only as beneficial as the posture or form in which we do it. But our interest for self progress has to go beyond words and classes only. In Yoga for example, proper physical postures called asanas are important to practice not only in class, but every moment of the day. Such is true with Tai Chi posture, both of the mind and body.
We usually find ourselves in 3 postures throughout our day: sitting, standing and lying down. Lying down releases us from the powerful influences of gravity on our body and activates the parasympathetic nervous system. So this posture leads to unconsciousness and dreams. Standing maximizes the influence of gravity on the body and activates our sympathetic nervous system, directing alertness and action. Sitting actually activates both the sympathetic and parasympathetic, but to more a middle ground- lesser degree than standing or lying down. This balance between the other two postures lends itself to calm and meditation, aiding the mind in winding down.
We go through life as if moved by every force outside of ourselves, rather than acting from within our own choice or thinking. The world moves us. Relationships move us. We chase after whatever enters the mind. We are responding to the world constantly. Because we answer the demands of the outside world, we miss opportunities to better understand what the body does naturally. One thing is certain for many people, we seldom just stand. If you are honest in your observations, you will find yourself leaning against walls, on one hip, on your shopping cart, constantly moving and twisting yourself, even if you are practicing a routine of relaxation.
If you further observe yourself in these moments, paying attention to the subtle feelings in your body, you will notice tension, lack of quality breathing and even rapid or stressful thinking. Once we take a step forward, we since we are moving from an imbalanced posture, our movements will by clumsy and imbalanced. We might overstep our walk, wobble in even the most basic motions, walk on the balls of our feet or a combination of tense muscles accompanied by improperly rotated joints. To avoid this, check your standing posture first. Allow your weight to sink equally onto both feet and let your hands simply hang at your sides. If it is comfortable for you, let your palms face behind you and your shoulders drop. Be certain that your weight is sinking into the middle of your feet, not the balls of your feet or heels. Get the sense that the earth is supporting you. Once you maintain this posture, try engaging in conversations or reading etc. to see how long you can hold this posture without losing that subtle awareness.
To go further with this exercise, keeping your feet parallel to each other ,about shoulder width apart, with slightly bent knees. Keep your shoulders relaxed; your shoulder blades and even your chest. Adjust your coccyx (tailbone) so that is more or less pointing directly down toward the ground. When you accomplish this, the lower back arch will flatten itself out. Sense your lower back and sacrum connecting directly to your legs. Once you are in this posture, allow your attention to scan the entire body from top to bottom for unnecessary tension. Be sure you do not change your posture while scanning. All you want to do is observe and sense. Allow your breath to flow naturally, don't force it or control it. More importantly do not hold your breath.
When we can learn to find our natural and comfortable state in this posture, we can try a walking exercise. We want to use the awareness and sensitivity gained by standing, and keep it with us in motion. Walking can be seen and experienced as a profound activity. But the automaton like, restricted movements many call walking can do more harm than good. Besides stimulating our cardiovascular system, walking helps us relax as well as energizes us and reduces stress. Walking has a deep connection to the fluid rhythms of movement and breath.
For us to take the body awareness and sensitivity we gained through standing and put it in motion, we first have to observe how we walk. Spend some time with yourself, don't respond to and self judgments or thoughts of others, simply start walking daily and give all your attention to the process. Ask yourself, what is your motive for walking? Is your mind wandering or are you enjoying each step and breath of air you take? Where are you rushing to, and in the grand scheme of things does it really matter? So slow down! If you find yourself bouncing in your step, moving about, this might be because you are anxious which results in unnecessary tension in your body. This wastes energy and will exhaust you.
Allowing the body to remain open and stress free, the mind and the body move together. Continuing to observe your walking, pay attention to the range of your movements. Are your joints opening and closing by the swinging of your arms, allowing breath to enter the space in the body, or are you stiff, holding your shoulders back and restricting the movement of your arms? Do you think this represents a state of mind? What about your pelvis, does it move freely, opening and closing the joints or is it tight and rigid restricting movement of blood and lymph throughout the body.
Become aware of your feet, sense each food the moment it touches the ground. Ask yourself if the foot feels tight when it raises off the ground and lands. Do you land gently or hard? Do your feet land flat, more on the heel or ball? Do they roll from heel to toe? Being to sense your toes, experiment and play with the way your feet interact with the ground.
Chuang Tzu said " True human beings breathe with their heels, while the majority of us breathe with our throats." As you release tension in the body while walking you will feel your breathe reach deeper in your body. This can create a heightened state of mind as you sense new parts of yourself you seldom experience.
When I first entered my Tai Chi training, my cup was not overflowing, it was cracking from the overwhelming amount of misconceptions and misinformation I held about the art. My associations to words and theories did not allow my awareness to enter the body freely. My movements would meet the resistance of my knowing, and false truth would arise. I wanted to romanticize what I was doing. I was not just moving, I was expressing my chi, flowing, doing more than I could imagine. But why? Why did the mind have to indulge in the existential? Why could it not accept what was simply taking place without forming values or beliefs?
When we cannot see what is, and only see what takes place in the mind through knowing, we suffer from duality, and this creates imbalance in the mind. Over time I began to ache from my movements. My practice was resulting in tension in the body and no real improvement in my body. I eventually learned to let go. I am simply moving to move, as I walk just to walk- enjoying each movement and refining it like steel, to become stronger over time. I didn't need to stretch beyond my reach, to create more activity in the mind than what was actually taking place. I was desiring what I considered the deep and complex aspect of Tai Chi and movement. But the subtle is not less than the complex, small things make up big things.
The deeper happenings of the body and the mind while standing or moving are not dependent on our ability to know them. So when you stand or move, be present in your posture. Allow yourself to experience your place on this globe and in this time. Keep your mind open and free to the sensation of the body and let go of your knowing and cerebral fidgeting. Stand and know yourself, stand with yourself and stand yourself. Walk in consciousness and know each step can be a learning experience to get better acquainted with ourselves.
Proper posture is a way of blending with gravity, proper attitude is a way of blending with life- Dan Millman
Posture is not only involved our relationship to gravity as well as our relationship to stillness and motion. Posture has great impact on digestion, breathing and even our emotions. In a profession that directly deals with the alignment of the body, I often speak of the relationship to posture and exercise, whether stretching or resistance training. Whatever we do as exercise is only as beneficial as the posture or form in which we do it. But our interest for self progress has to go beyond words and classes only. In Yoga for example, proper physical postures called asanas are important to practice not only in class, but every moment of the day. Such is true with Tai Chi posture, both of the mind and body.
We usually find ourselves in 3 postures throughout our day: sitting, standing and lying down. Lying down releases us from the powerful influences of gravity on our body and activates the parasympathetic nervous system. So this posture leads to unconsciousness and dreams. Standing maximizes the influence of gravity on the body and activates our sympathetic nervous system, directing alertness and action. Sitting actually activates both the sympathetic and parasympathetic, but to more a middle ground- lesser degree than standing or lying down. This balance between the other two postures lends itself to calm and meditation, aiding the mind in winding down.
We go through life as if moved by every force outside of ourselves, rather than acting from within our own choice or thinking. The world moves us. Relationships move us. We chase after whatever enters the mind. We are responding to the world constantly. Because we answer the demands of the outside world, we miss opportunities to better understand what the body does naturally. One thing is certain for many people, we seldom just stand. If you are honest in your observations, you will find yourself leaning against walls, on one hip, on your shopping cart, constantly moving and twisting yourself, even if you are practicing a routine of relaxation.
If you further observe yourself in these moments, paying attention to the subtle feelings in your body, you will notice tension, lack of quality breathing and even rapid or stressful thinking. Once we take a step forward, we since we are moving from an imbalanced posture, our movements will by clumsy and imbalanced. We might overstep our walk, wobble in even the most basic motions, walk on the balls of our feet or a combination of tense muscles accompanied by improperly rotated joints. To avoid this, check your standing posture first. Allow your weight to sink equally onto both feet and let your hands simply hang at your sides. If it is comfortable for you, let your palms face behind you and your shoulders drop. Be certain that your weight is sinking into the middle of your feet, not the balls of your feet or heels. Get the sense that the earth is supporting you. Once you maintain this posture, try engaging in conversations or reading etc. to see how long you can hold this posture without losing that subtle awareness.
To go further with this exercise, keeping your feet parallel to each other ,about shoulder width apart, with slightly bent knees. Keep your shoulders relaxed; your shoulder blades and even your chest. Adjust your coccyx (tailbone) so that is more or less pointing directly down toward the ground. When you accomplish this, the lower back arch will flatten itself out. Sense your lower back and sacrum connecting directly to your legs. Once you are in this posture, allow your attention to scan the entire body from top to bottom for unnecessary tension. Be sure you do not change your posture while scanning. All you want to do is observe and sense. Allow your breath to flow naturally, don't force it or control it. More importantly do not hold your breath.
When we can learn to find our natural and comfortable state in this posture, we can try a walking exercise. We want to use the awareness and sensitivity gained by standing, and keep it with us in motion. Walking can be seen and experienced as a profound activity. But the automaton like, restricted movements many call walking can do more harm than good. Besides stimulating our cardiovascular system, walking helps us relax as well as energizes us and reduces stress. Walking has a deep connection to the fluid rhythms of movement and breath.
For us to take the body awareness and sensitivity we gained through standing and put it in motion, we first have to observe how we walk. Spend some time with yourself, don't respond to and self judgments or thoughts of others, simply start walking daily and give all your attention to the process. Ask yourself, what is your motive for walking? Is your mind wandering or are you enjoying each step and breath of air you take? Where are you rushing to, and in the grand scheme of things does it really matter? So slow down! If you find yourself bouncing in your step, moving about, this might be because you are anxious which results in unnecessary tension in your body. This wastes energy and will exhaust you.
Allowing the body to remain open and stress free, the mind and the body move together. Continuing to observe your walking, pay attention to the range of your movements. Are your joints opening and closing by the swinging of your arms, allowing breath to enter the space in the body, or are you stiff, holding your shoulders back and restricting the movement of your arms? Do you think this represents a state of mind? What about your pelvis, does it move freely, opening and closing the joints or is it tight and rigid restricting movement of blood and lymph throughout the body.
Become aware of your feet, sense each food the moment it touches the ground. Ask yourself if the foot feels tight when it raises off the ground and lands. Do you land gently or hard? Do your feet land flat, more on the heel or ball? Do they roll from heel to toe? Being to sense your toes, experiment and play with the way your feet interact with the ground.
Chuang Tzu said " True human beings breathe with their heels, while the majority of us breathe with our throats." As you release tension in the body while walking you will feel your breathe reach deeper in your body. This can create a heightened state of mind as you sense new parts of yourself you seldom experience.
When I first entered my Tai Chi training, my cup was not overflowing, it was cracking from the overwhelming amount of misconceptions and misinformation I held about the art. My associations to words and theories did not allow my awareness to enter the body freely. My movements would meet the resistance of my knowing, and false truth would arise. I wanted to romanticize what I was doing. I was not just moving, I was expressing my chi, flowing, doing more than I could imagine. But why? Why did the mind have to indulge in the existential? Why could it not accept what was simply taking place without forming values or beliefs?
When we cannot see what is, and only see what takes place in the mind through knowing, we suffer from duality, and this creates imbalance in the mind. Over time I began to ache from my movements. My practice was resulting in tension in the body and no real improvement in my body. I eventually learned to let go. I am simply moving to move, as I walk just to walk- enjoying each movement and refining it like steel, to become stronger over time. I didn't need to stretch beyond my reach, to create more activity in the mind than what was actually taking place. I was desiring what I considered the deep and complex aspect of Tai Chi and movement. But the subtle is not less than the complex, small things make up big things.
The deeper happenings of the body and the mind while standing or moving are not dependent on our ability to know them. So when you stand or move, be present in your posture. Allow yourself to experience your place on this globe and in this time. Keep your mind open and free to the sensation of the body and let go of your knowing and cerebral fidgeting. Stand and know yourself, stand with yourself and stand yourself. Walk in consciousness and know each step can be a learning experience to get better acquainted with ourselves.
Think with your whole body- Taisen Deshimaru
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