This past October, I was blessed to have been invited for two weeks of Advanced Training Courses with the Four Winds, in Los Lobos, Chile. I, along with most of the faculty, were guided by the voice and energy of the gifted Lynn Berryhill, who has been a shamanic practitioner and teacher for about 25 years. Journeying with Lynn was an experience all it itself, and we did so at least once each day. The meeting room in Los Lobos was floor-to-ceiling windows, we sat on the floor with back-jacks, and in the cool October (Spring) mornings we clambered in from eating breakfast outside, greeted warmly by the wood-burning stove…
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Happy New … Just THANK YOU!
Another year of Life… how blessed and grateful I am, for all the beauty, tears, joy, wonder and community this year has brought. I have friends that scoff at the ‘New Year’, they say it’s just another day, no big deal. I used to think so too… but since entering the shamanic practitioner’s path, which is so vast and endless, I have come to appreciate rituals and rites of passage more than ever. Some of us have become cynical to the old ways, others romanticize them. In both cases, we are still living in the past. I see the new year, whether we celebrate it at the winter solstice –…
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Τελετή Φωτιάς
Οι τελετουργίες είναι τόσο παλιές όσο η καταγεγραμμένη ανθρώπινη ιστορία. Ανεξάρτητα από θρησκεία, πολιτισμό ή εθνότητα, κάθε ομάδα της ανθρωπότητας έχει τις δικές της παραδόσεις, τελετουργικές πρακτικές και συγκεκριμένες τελετές για να δώσει πινελιές χρώματος στη συνηθισμένη ρουτίνα της ζωής. Στην εποχή μας, οι τελετές και οι τελετουργίες γίνονται όλο και λιγότερο σημαντικές, εφόσον όλα φαίνονται να εξηγούνται από την επιστήμη. Δυστυχώς, η μαγεία της τελετής έχει αποδοκιμαστεί και μετατοπιστεί αποκλειστικά σε θρησκευτικά ιδρύματα ή ιθαγενείς φυλές. Όμως, όπως χρειαζόμαστε νερό, τροφή, αγάπη και στέγη για την ανθρώπινη επιβίωση, χρειαζόμαστε τελετές και τελετουργίες για να επιβιώσουμε, καθώς αυτές είναι που δημιουργούν την αίσθηση του ‘ανήκειν’ μέσα μας. Οι τελετές μάς θυμίζουν ότι…
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Grab that Sound
The relationship we want to have with our thoughts while meditating is like the one we have with sounds. This is my favorite guidance from Hyon Gak Sunim, the Zen Master that has inspired and super-charged our Zen practice at Synthesis Center. We had a short meditation session after yoga today, and shared some questions and thoughts with tea and cookies afterwards. One of our beautiful practitioners asked about ‘getting rid of thoughts’ in meditation and that bloomed into an interesting conversation, the gist of which I am sharing in this short post. So… create the same relationship to thinking as you do to sounds… Our beautiful haven of a…
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Hacking Your Incessant Brain Loops
Για να διαβάσετε στα Ελληνικά πατήστε εδώ. Before class the other day, one of our beautiful students was telling me he was having a hard time keeping his mind quiet, even during his ashtanga practice. There is a lot going on in his life, and it keeps getting churned up, uncontrollably. I suggested he follow his breath in the practice, paying attention to the sound and quality, and trying to keep the same sound for the inhale and exhale. This is a simple and profound way of keeping the mind occupied with something that doesn’t create emotions and distraction. After class, we had a great conversation, and I suggested he…
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Χακάροντας τους Ατελείωτους Νοητικούς Κύκλους της Καθημερινότητας
To read this in English please press here. Πριν από το μάθημα τις προάλλες, ένας από τους αγαπημένους μας μαθητές μού έλεγε ότι δυσκολευόταν να κρατήσει το μυαλό του ήσυχο, ακόμη και κατά τη διάρκεια της πρακτικής του στην ashtanga. Υπάρχουν πολλά που συμβαίνουν στη ζωή του, έλεγε, και ο νους ανακατευόταν, ανεξέλεγκτα. Του πρότεινα να ακολουθήσει την αναπνοή του στην πρακτική, δίνοντας προσοχή στον ήχο και στην ποιότητα της, προσπαθώντας να διατηρήσει τον ίδιο ήχο για την εισπνοή και την εκπνοή. Αυτός είναι ένας απλός και πολύ αποτελεσματικός τρόπος να κρατάμε το μυαλό απασχολημένο με κάτι που δεν δημιουργεί συναισθήματα και που αποσπά την προσοχή. Μετά το μάθημα, είχαμε…
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Giving into abundance at the Fall Equinox
As we find ways to reconnect with the Earth and her wisdom, we are called to pay more attention to the cycles of nature and their relationship to our mind and body cycles. For millennia, indigenous cultures observed, breathed and lived close to the earth, and came to understand that there are four main points in her yearly movement: Winter Solstice, Spring Equinox, Summer Solstice, and Autumn Equinox. They then mapped those to our inner yearly journeys, as we are simply a part of nature herself. Observing, moving with and embodying nature’s cycles, our awareness of our own cycles deepens. Just as in nature, we also go through cycles of…
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For Parents, Happiness is a Very High Bar!
Have we over-done the parenting thing? It seems parents these days are so overwhelmed in trying not to ‘mess up’ their kids that they end up messing themselves up with anxiety and heaps of guilt. I love this clip (and it’s almost 10 years old!), what a sweet reminder that we parents are not as responsible as we think for the way our kids grow up. Showing up, listening and taking care of our children is often good enough!
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The Frightening Face of Boredom
Our human bodies have been around for about 300,000 years. The majority of this evolution has been outside cities and little cement buildings, in colorful landscapes, fully exposed to elements and other creatures. We are made to move around, to look for food, to take care of each other and our land. One of the most detrimental experiences for a human mind is that of being idle. Not having anything to do. This is not bad when it’s part of a vacation or on a weekend, since that usually compensates for over-stimulation and over-work. In my therapy practice I often see this idle madness when people lose their jobs, are…
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Already This World Gives You Your Job – Zen Master Seung Sahn
Dharma Magic (Greek below) Zen Master Seung Sahn: Compassion mind means only help other people. Not thinking about me – only helping other people. Choice means great vow; great vow means “Sentient beings are numberless, we vow to save them all.” That’s choice: “Sentient beings are numberless, we vow to save them all”.That’s the human being’s original job…So, questions? Question: Human beings’ job is to save all beings. How did we get this job? ZMSS: So, what are you doing right now? Q: Picking my fingernails. ZMSS: Hah, picking my fingernails. Yes. Sitting on a cushion, talking with you, yes? That’s your job. Just do it! (Laughter) Very simple. Don’t…
