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Notes to Self

Return to the Garden (The "core" wound) 

We are stardust  
Billion year old carbon  
We are golden  
Caught in the devil's bargain  
And we've got to get ourselves  
back to the Garden 

-Joni Mitchell

 

The story of the garden of Eden is an "origin" story. My view is that within this "origin story" we may be seeing clues about the origins of the structure of the psyche, how those structures came into being, and also how they are manifest in the outer world. This inner and outer structure then become a feedback loop, and perpetuate the other's…

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Breath into Being album  

This new album offering is based on many of the "live" online meditations that I offered in 2021 on the Insight Timer meditation app and Youtube. 

The intention of the album is combine a cross section of musical art and meditative practice. Music and Sound, have a direct impact on our nervous system and can also be great teachers to bring us back home to a calm and centered place in the nervous system. 

The rhythmic based tracks, can also be used as breath practices. For example, the listener, could inhale…

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Two "modes" of the Mind 

When I say “silence” or “stillness” I am essentially talking about the same thing — which is the “quieting” of the ruminating mind. In other words the cessation of the “ruminative” thoughts. This mode of thought is useful at times, but it can also become an unconscious habit. The platform for this manner of thought is the “awareness” or “stillness” that is always there. So, as an analogy we could think of the mind as having two “modes” of thought.

  • The “ruminative” mind — (takes energy) - calculating…
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Sacral Chakra Meditation (Releasing control, Finding Clarity) 

Note to Self: 

I will now speak (Write) from a perspective, that perspective intended to water the seed of a knowing that is ancient within you, and also familiar. There is nothing special you need to do. Simply listen and be. Release the judging consciousness, just for now. 

We think of the Solar Plexus, the seat of will, we might also think of attachment and expectation … hope.. what are these? 

these are in the imagined future, and in engaging the mind in this way, one missing the present moment. For…

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How to get into Theta State 

 

How to get into Theta State?

Sound therapy offers one possible solution for changing brainwave states.  Sound therapy uses repetitive oscillations, or rhythms to entrain (synchronize) brainwaves into the desired state.  Instruments such as Himalayan (Tibetan) singing bowls, and Crystal singing bowls produce these oscillations naturally. The theory is that over time our brainwaves, entrain or synchronize with the sound waves. This occurs via sympathetic entrainment. The human mind also have a natural…

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Are Chakras Real or Conceptual? 

Is there any scientific proof for the Chakras?  Are Chakras real of conceptual?  Chakras are not recognized by science.  However, the idea of the chakras serves as a framework from which we can describe the mind/body connection.  Chakras literally means spinning wheels.  Which serves as a description of the different energy centers in our body. Language is imperfect, and to top it off sometimes we speak imperfectly, which leaves room for confusion.  While the mind can be deceptive, the body usually doesn't…

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Be the Love you Seek (New Album) 

Here are some notes for each track of the album "Be the Love you Seek"  (release date: Jan. 2020).

Album notes: 

Be the Love you Seek is a fusion of musical expression with elements of sound therapy to assist in guiding the listener towards relaxation.  Instruments include Classical Guitar, Tibetan (Himalayan) Singing Bowls, Gong, Percussion and Native American Flute. (432hz and 936hz tunings) 

Tracks 1 - 7 are musically based featuring classical guitar and Tibetan Singing Bowls.  Tracks 3, 4, 5, and 7…

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Healing Frequencies List 

Can frequencies heal? 

In my view, there are two ways to approach, or interpret, the term "sound healing”.  In a broad sense “healing” might refer to any therapy that can help one to feel whole and complete again.  When one is stressed the mind and body can feel fractured.  Sounds and frequencies can be a great help in returning to a state of relaxation and wholeness.

In a more specific sense, the word “healing” might refer something that is curative, for a very specific ailment. 

I like to consider sound…

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Every thing comes, and goes 

Everything that comes also goes. 

Thoughts come and go. 

Possessions come and go. 

Desires come and go. 

Even personality goes thru changes, and yet there is a part of you that has never changed. There is the unchanging part of you. Focus on that. 

Focus not on the changing thoughts, but the breath. Put your attention there..breathing in... breathing out.. During all of these changes, the breath has been your ceaseless companion. Who is it that focuses? 

So, are the thoughts that arise in your mind just a…

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Forgive Yourself, Accept Yourself 

Forgive yourself for the big things... but also the little things...

Don't beat yourself up for things you can't control... or even things that you could have. What's done is done and you gotta let it go..  people beat themselves up way too much.. some people do it out loud.

Notice all the times you beat yourself up during the day.. notice when those self critical thoughts come and say "you shoulda done this, or that..or said this or that...you big dummy." Would you say half these things to others? ..or be so…

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Are you giving away your power? 

What external things are you giving your power (over your own nervous system) to? What are you giving your power away to? 

Ultimately, most mental stress is caused by giving power to something outside of you (that is not you...) over YOU (and your nervous system). 

In nearly all cases, the stress is caused by fear. Nearly all of the time, the issue itself is not "real", in the strictest sense of its ability to "make" you feel stress. However, the reaction in your nervous system that is caused by a mental…

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The Methylation Connection 

I had never heard of methylation (or at least I didn't pay much attention) until last summer.  It seems I have found a key piece in the puzzle..of my experience, and hopefully something helpful to share with you too..

I became aware of the process of methylation for myself, when I decided to switch to egg white protein powder in my smoothies. I just wanted to try a switch from the other protein powder I was using.. I had also read that egg white protein powder also had a high tryptophan content, which… Read more

Cut the Bullshit 

When shit gets real (or hits the fan), we cut the bullshit.

When the bullshit is cut, you can say what you mean.

When you say what you really mean, you can come to an authentic understanding. A heart to heart. True communication. Communion. There is no more separation between the inner mind and outer representation.

When you don't say what you mean, you fall "asleep" and can even start believing your own bullshit. It's the shit that you think lets you hide from conflict or embarrassment. Instead it creates…

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What if God was One of Us? 

"What if God was one of us?... just a stranger on the bus trying to make his way home" -Joan Osborne 

What is the word "God" anyway?  G-d first and foremost, is a word that seems to have been created as a placeholder for what humans can't quite understand.  It is a word for something that is beyond words and beyond our capacity for thought. 

(Can what empowers the speaker, and the words, really be spoken?) 

What if God lived in you, as you, but you didn't know it?  What if God was seeing you, as you, from…

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The ONE who looks 

Meditation is one way of cultivating our sometimes forgotten ability as humans to look inwards to remember who we really are.  

The irony of looking outside of yourself for pleasure, satisfaction. etc.. is that the one who looks is what you/we are looking for. So, the irony is that what you are seeking is the one who seeks.  And so, that is why "loving yourself" is the great shortcut to "self-realization", because when you quit looking outside of yourself to fulfill that "sense of self"....you have arrived…

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Make Feeling Good the Goal 

1. You may have things in your life that you want to change, or see happen.. however, instead of becoming stressed about these things make feeling good (internally/mentally) the goal... for now.  

2. It's always now. 

Examine your thoughts in real time are they making you feel good (physically)? If not, why feed them with your attention? Feeling aggravated or annoyed at someone or a situation? Let it go! ..or face the issue head on (then let it go). Be willing to let go of stressful feelings and mental…

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Random thoughts on religion and spirituality 

There is no such thing as spirituality, mysticism or religion... there is only reality or un-reality, clarity or confusion... understanding or misunderstanding.  While we sometimes employ these words to describe what is unseen and not readily perceived, the fact that these "spiritual" philosophies exist as competing views of reality (that some argue and become violent over) only serve as evidence as to how clueless we human beings can be...and how deeply we can deceive ourselves. (..and how much we still…

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The Teachings are not the Energy 

The ENERGY is how it's working...  

...SCIENCE attempts to explain how it works. 

...and the TEACHINGS are how to work it!! 

I don't see the "energy" as a philosophy or a dogma or religion. Rather, I see it as both a vital and transformative energy. People can live without a philosophy or dogma.  No one can live without the energy of Life, that flows through us and animates our being. So, to me the teachings are not the energy in the way that an electricians schematic is not electricity.  

If you are…

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Awakening the Subconscious 

So how does a person open the subconscious? Does this require some deep study, or esoteric ritual? 

I don't think so. In fact, it's something we do every night. 

My working theory is that opening the subconscious is something we do everyday when we go to sleep. This basically what I think also happens when I experience deeper levels of meditation. While I think all meditation is beneficial, even if it's just relaxing. My experience tells me that there are benefits far beyond simply relaxing and relieving…

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Energy Healing For Mental Health 

This guest post is by therapist and energy medicine practitioner, Diane Chrestman. Diane and I met a little over a year ago, and I have enjoyed sharing sound therapy with a group class that Diane leads for her patients. If you are in Georgia, and are in need of counseling services, give Diane a call! (Update: 2019 Diane recently released her new book "Zenergy Mindfulness: The Intersection of Buddhist and Energy Psychology For Mental Health And Wellness". See the book here on Amazon.   Holistic Healing ForRead more

Meditation ... am I doing this right? (Part 2: How To...) 

 

There are a lot of how to guide's to meditation out there, but I'd like to share some of my personal experiences here.  Unlike, teaching an instrument (for example), where you can demonstrate things physically, the hardest thing about "teaching" anything about meditation is that it's subjective and most of it happens internally.  The most that can happen is to point in the right direction and hopefully that is helpful.  The rest is up to each individual to put into practice.  I do however think that…

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The Producer and Experiencer of Stress - part 2 

Following up on the last blog, I'd say the other key point was that I realized that my perceived identity is really the source of most mental stress.  I realized that in my experience I was either defending identity or stressed about my own existence, etc. But with the practices of meditation, yoga, sound therapy and really just pure relaxation,  I found that I could settle into the present moment.  I was not then in a space of needing to be x, y , or z, but just to be who I AM.  I found that when I rest in…

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You are the Producer and Experiencer of Stress 

Physiologically speaking, stress is generated within each of us.  

So that means that, physiologically (within our body), we are both the producer and the experiencer of stress. 

So that means, then, that my thoughts have the ability to produce a physiological reaction, and then that reaction can manifest as stress in the body.  The opposite is also true.  Physiologically speaking that I'm also both the producer and the experiencer of joy, and bliss, and euphoria. 

So, that seems basic enough, right?.  We…

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Who is the enemy? 

Consider that the real battle is not against competing ideas and identities, that we can dream up in the form of religions, race, sexuality, political ideas, economic class, favorite fashions or whatever other type of divisions our minds can manufacture... but that the real battle is within our own minds and all of these ideas that separate us and the rest of humanity from our direct connection to the Love that is already within us.  I've realized in myself (the hard way) that the real victory is in…

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