Aikido celebrates the Divine Breath :: Through Training We Reconcile Our Hearts and Centers with the Universe and Learn to Love Our Fellow Men!

Aikido is not a fighting style. Aikido is not designed to hurt a human being, but designed to show restraint when faced with aggression.

I have been demonstrating Judo and Aikido in my classes lately…

Judo techniques are very impressive, for example, Ippon Seioi Nage, where you throw your opponent over your shoulder. It is a highly effective, supple, beautiful and impressive throw.

What I do is demonstrate Ippon Seioi Nage and the impressiveness of the throw visually… Wow, it looks and feels amazing!

But… then I demonstrate a simple and basic Aikido movement called Kotegaeshi. How simple!
It looks like your partner is just falling for you. It looks like choreographed BULLSHIDO.

But, kotegaeshi is a very powerful and subtle technique. It requires very little effort and is amazingly powerful. It obviously looks like a “phony” technique… how can someone fall to the ground with such a simple movement?

Ah…. THAT is the KEY to Aikido!

(This is Reprinted with permission (see end of the article) from http://axisoflogic.com/artman/publish/article_27083.shtml)

Will the World Survive GM Cultures and the Damage to the Earth’s Eco-Systems?
By Siv O’Neall
Axis of Logic, June 15, 2008

Monsanto and the other major biotech companies – Syngenta, Bunge, Cargill, etc. – are all set on owning the world’s food supply. Monsanto is by far the leader in this nightmare of destroying organic agriculture and millennia-old biodiversity.

They have no respect whatsoever for the lives and the livelihood of farmers or, for that matter, any concern for the people who are exposed to severe health hazards from eating genetically modified foods. Corporate profit is all that counts.

The greatest long-lasting danger from GMOs is the destruction of the earth’s eco-systems – the degradation of the soil, the depletion of water resources and the proliferation of pests that were until now barely known, since they were kept under control by the natural balance of predatory insects keeping those that are harmful to the crops from having their potentially damaging effect. More later about this natural equilibrium.

The bio-tech industries have taken a big and dangerous step towards destroying the earth as it has been known for thousands of years. Organic agriculture, biodiversity and natural pest control have made the earth a place for sustainable farming for millennia. However, at this point of delicate balance for the earth’s survival, bio-tech corporations want to put an end to everything that is natural in order to make short-term profit from huge monocultures of the genetically modified products that they are falsely marketing as our saviors from world hunger and poverty. [1]

India is one country that has been severely hit by the bio-tech industry with accompanying disasters.

What follows after the farmers change over to GMO seeds after millennia of planting and making a livelihood in organic farming is a horror story of bad harvests, huge debts, increased costs for herbicides and fertilizers (in spite of the companies’ promises of lower costs), and the suicides of thousands of farmers in Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Kerala – among the Indian states that are hit the worst.

This has been going on for decades and if it were not for a lot of activism being focused on this problem, there is no chance that anything would change, since the corporations are tied in firmly with the governments in the heavy-handed corporatism that rules the world today. The farmers are lured into buying the GM seeds because of low-interest loans and obscene propaganda about giant harvests, less work and lower costs. Bio-tech PR claims there is no need for pesticides and less need for fertilizers, all of which has proved to be inaccurate. Added to this, these seeds are not adjusted to the eco-systems where they are being planted. They frequently need more water than is available and the results are disastrous.

One woman is in the forefront of the fight against the bio-tech industry. Her name is Vandana Shiva and she is based in Delhi.

Dr. Vandana Shiva, a former particle physicist, has for the past three decades done more than anyone else as an activist to attract the attention of the world to the deadly corporate horror story of genetically modified products. She attacks the problem from all angles, educating and organizing protest demonstrations through her organization Navdanya.

Navdanya means “nine seeds”, and is a movement promoting diversity – fighting against the privatization of water, campaigning against Basmati biopiracy and generally leading a fight for the rights of rural farmers to a decent livelihood, uncompromised through biopiracy such as is taking place in India and all over the world. Biodiversity, the way farmers have been cultivating the land for millennia is her central argument and monocultures at the giant industrial farms are her principal enemy. She talks about food fascism and the bio-tech industry see her as their most prominent enemy in their vicious attempt of controlling the world’s food supply.

Vandana Shiva says on her Navdanya website:

“When I found that dominant science and technology served the interests of [the] powerful, I left academics to found the Research Foundation for Science, Technology and Ecology (RFSTE), a participatory, public interest research organisation.

“When I found global corporations wanted to patent seeds, crops or life forms, I started Navdanya to protect biodiversity, defend farmers’ rights and promote organic farming.

“Navdanya/RFSTE’s journey over the past two decades has taken us into creating markets for farmers and promoting tasty, healthy, high quality food for consumers. We have connected the seed to the kitchen, biodiversity to gastronomy. And now we have joined hands with Slow Food to celebrate the quality and cultural diversity of our food.”
SIU [2] magazine writes about Vandana Shiva:

“In fact, listening to her may make you rethink many of the world’s established social and political paradigms.

“For example, the generally acknowledged argument that the Green Revolution, at the very least, led to an increase in food production is one of them. ‘No, it did not increase production. Wheat and rice production increased, not the overall food production,’ argues Shiva, and launches into a lecture that concludes that whatever increase there was had nothing whatsoever to do with the Green Revolution, and that overall it has been a disaster for agriculture and food security in India.”

The Mealy Bug, the deadly gift from Monsanto

The latest horror news on GMOs is the Mealy Bug that has been said to be “the deadly gift from Monsanto to Vidarbha, set to destroy all crops and plants”. Vidarbha is the eastern part of Maharashtra state, in western India. It is India’s most developed and urbanized state.

In a press note Kishor Tiwari, President of ‘Vidarbha Jan Andolan Samiti’ – a farmers advocacy group – writes that the Mealy Bug is a virus that is imported with the Bt Cotton sold by multinational corporation Monsanto. In the coming summer season it will have an effect on a larger area covering almost all crops and next year it will be set to destroy not only cotton crops but all other food crops as well.

Vidarbha Jan Andolan Samiti (VJAS) has urged the Indian Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, to ban Monsanto Bt. Cotton seeds in the agrarian crisis that has hit West Vidarbha. This is of the most urgent importance in order to save more than 3 million distressed and debt-trapped Vidarbha cotton farmers.

The London based Institute of Science in Society (ISIS) posts the following from Ram Kalaspurkar, organic farmer, Vidarbha Organic Farmers Association, Yavatmal, Maharashtra, India

“I am an organic farmer residing at Yavatmal in the state of Maharashtra. Our organisation, Vidarbha Organic Farmers Association, has been propagating organic farming since 1994. We have been helped a lot by Dr Vandana Shiva. She was the first person to tell us about terminators. Right now, we are working for her organisation Navdanya.”

ISIS on their web site has published a letter from Ram Kalaspurkar who refers to a study where they have found that ‘Organic Cotton Beats Bt Cotton in India’. They firmly recommend a return to organic cotton, saying that Bt cotton is a trap that has to be avoided. In the article published by ISIS there are photos of plants infested by mealy bugs.

All the infested plots had the Bollgard label, which is supposed to control pests. It is made clear that the mealy bugs have never been found in the region before BT cotton seeds were introduced. (The mealy bug had, however, been found in China two years earlier.)

After the death of the cotton plants, the bug goes over to nearby plants and it has already shifted to Congress weed and many other weeds and plants in fields close by.

The Monsanto website claims:

“Bollgard II technology offers cotton growers efficient, effective pest control with fewer pesticide applications than in conventional cotton crops.”

This is just one example of what has proved to be the totally false propaganda pumped out from Monsanto.

Rhea Gala reports from Andhra Pradesh – from VIDARBHA JAN ANDOLAN SAMITI (the following quoted passages are excerpted from the same VJAS source)

“In the fertile regions of Andhra Pradesh ‘white gold’ monocultures of the high-yielding hybrids of ‘Green Revolution’ cotton had turned the state into the pesticide capital of the world even before the advent of genetically modified (GM) Bt cotton. Now, however, the revolution is turning full circle as more and more farmers are opting for low input organic methods that are healthier and economically far more rewarding.”

The message is now

“Return to Organic Cotton and Avoid the Bt Cotton Trap
No more debt, pesticides and suicides for Indian cotton farmers who avoid Bt-cotton and regainlivelihood, health, independence and peace of mind with organic methods.”

Several Non-Governmental Organizations are working in many villages promoting non-pesticide management (NPM). The government has until now supported high-chemical-input cotton production at national and state level and this has sent the wrong messages to farmers. GM cotton is falsely promoted as the answer to reducing pesticide use, and it is one of many reasons why farmers are giving in to the pressure to grow GM cotton.

“Farmers initially saw the system of industrial production as timesaving and requiring far lessknowledge of soils and pests; however it soon proved to be a relentless treadmill. It degraded the soil, depleted scarce water resources and proliferated cotton pests beyond the farmers’ worst nightmares, as both yield and profit progressively diminished.”

Research backs up the case for NPM and organic cotton.
A report entitled “Bt cotton vs. Non Pesticidal Management of cotton: Findings of a study by the Centre for Sustainable Agriculture 2004-05 compares Bt and NPM cotton in Andhra Pradesh.”

The findings are unequivocally in favor of organic cotton. There are vast numbers of beneficial insects that get killed off from GM Bt cotton. Those insects are predators that attack and kill off most of the harmful insects and pests.

“It reports conclusively that Bt cotton is more prone to pests and diseases and that beneficial insects are more prevalent on NPM cotton. It also reports that the cost of pest management of Bt cotton is 690 percent higher than in NPM farming systems and that seed cost of Bt cotton is 355 percent higher than conventional varieties (‘Organic cotton beats Bt Cotton in India’ SiS 27)”.

Recreating the natural balance of predators and pests

“The skill of managing pests without recourse to synthetic pesticide requires knowledge of life cycle and behaviour, vigilance, an armoury of pest specific deterrents, and a healthy community of natural predators of pests. To control pests such as the spotted bollworm, American bollworm, tobacco caterpillar, pink bollworm, aphids, jassids, thrips, white fly and mites, each of which is capable of causing between 30 and 50 percent damage to a crop, natural predators are the most effective year after year.”

Conclusion

Vandana Shiva [3] by no means limits her activism to Bt cotton. She sets as her goal to recreate natural biodiversity in rice and all the other crops that the bio-tech companies are trying to take over with their GM seeds and products. There exist 100,000 varieties of rice evolved by Indian farmers and the diversity and the ‘perenniality’ have to be kept alive if we want to save our environment. Genetically modified seeds will lead to increased use of agri-chemicals and will thus increase environmental problems as well as human health problems.

Vandana Shiva addresses principally the dangers of GM farming in India, but the danger to the environment and to the livelihood of millions of people is obviously world-wide. Biodiversity represents the sustenance and livelihood base of small farmers all over the world and a sane environment is naturally the key to the continuation of healthy lives for the billions of people in the world.

Footnotes:

[1] The problem is global, but strong resistance to GMO seeds and foods contaminated by GMOs is taking place in Europe. Corporate-friendly governments are trying to follow in the steps of U.S. pro-GM policies. The European Commission is ambivalent on the issue, but the people of Europe represented by numerous NGOs are leading the fight against this scourge of industrial GM farming in order to save the world from the dangers to people’s health and from the destruction of the earth’s eco-systems.

See report from ISIS – “Dr. Mae-Wan Ho warns that further indulgence in GMOs will severely damage our chances of surviving the food crisis and global warming; organic agriculture and localised food systems are the way forward”

[2] The Norwegian Centre for International Cooperation in Higher Education (SIU) is a Norwegian agency that promotes international cooperation in education and research.

[3] For more information on Vandana Shiva and her activism, see ‘Monocultures, Monopolies, Myths and the Masculinisation o…’

© Copyright 2008 by AxisofLogic.com

This material is available for republication as long as reprints include verbatim copy of the article its entirety, respecting its integrity. Reprints must cite the author and Axis of Logic as the original source including a “live link” to the article. Thank you!

If Only … We All Had a Sense of Humour… this is a beautiful song and a beautiful music video:

As consumers, whether we be consumers of retail products or “spiritual” methods… we must be quite careful of the thin veil of deception the salesmen cover themselves in…

Stripping Away the Gurus by Geoffrey Falk:
http://www.strippingthegurus.com/

False Guru Test (From Energy Grid Magazine):
http://www.energygrid.com/spirit/ap-falsegurutest.html

Spirituality in a Nutshell (From Energy Grid Magazine):
http://www.energygrid.com/spirit/2007/10ap-spirituality.html

Organic Consumers Association:
http://www.organicconsumers.org/

U.S. Fighting to Stop Private Mad Cow Testing

Please Draw Your Own Conclusions… Awareness is Freedom…
… We live in a modern society in which our government views us only as taxpayers and businesses and corporations view us only as consumers and our employers view us only as resources.

Only when we choose to be an active participant in our lives, by constantly being mindful of our personal responsibilities to ourselves, our families and our communities… can we begin to break free from the boundaries that have been set for us by our State, our Religion, our Employers and the Businesses that wish to make a profit from us.

I have been in a frenzied state of reading books by one spiritual teacher after another in the past 6 months… Eckhart Tolle, Chogyam Trungpa, Jiddu Krishnamurti… and so on… sorry for dropping so many names.

Late last week I hit the wall.
I was sitting in my living room at 7:00AM unable to sleep and wondering why I was punishing myself?
I wrote this in my journal:
“Let go of anything that no longer serves me”

Then I went to sleep.

This week I seemed unable to let go of things that were not serving me… I was sort of relishing them… like looking at fresh Napoleons through the window of a European bakery… and knowing you don’t have any money to buy one. I was a little upset.

Last night, at 4:00AM I put on my Nikes and went outside and started running. It was completely quiet, the streets were literally deserted. Up in the clear sky there was only dark blue and the light of the crescent moon.

I thought of Enoch exploring the passing cycles of the moon 10,000 years ago and just felt like there was nothing to think about at all… everything is what it is, and everything is pretty OK the way they are.

As I ran I just focused on my breathing… breathe in… breathe out… repeat. The air was cool and felt fresh, clean, not muddled and tense like the air during the daytime when so many people are out and about. It was as if the air was itself relieved at the peace and quiet that was all around at that early hour of the morning.

The one feeling that I had was of peace, and I knew that this feeling of peace stemmed from the quiet on the streets, the silence, the lack of bustle and frenzy that normally accompanies the streets of the city. Even the Yellow Cabs seemed mellow and at peace, no rushing, no angst, no need to be at a more important place, 15 minutes ago.

What I experienced in that peace at 4:00AM while out running was that peace and spirituality can only be received through direct experience. No one can teach it to you. No one can pass it on to you. No one can provide it to you through ceremonies or monetary offerings and devotion. Either it happens to you or it doesn’t, and it will happen if you believe in yourself without doubt.

Reading the words of the above-mentioned spiritiual teachers… although I honestly try to keep an open-mind and be receptive to their message, especially one which teaches us not to fall victim to our egos or to “spiritual materialism”… I kept thinking, these teachers are using too many concepts, too many words… reading what they say in a book cannot help you free-yourself from the illusion of every-day life… you more often than not wind up more confused and feeling less sure about yourself, than before you picked up the book.

That’s the trap that is laid for so many people who begin walking the long and winding path of “spirituality”. The spiritual teachers in a way set you up to feel that you need a “Guru” to light the way, walk along the path with you, lead you from wrong to right and hold your hand when you feel unsure of where you are about to step. They start asking you so many questions to ask yourself, while knowing that you do not have the confidence to give a sure answer. You are a lost little lamb. They know you will be “wanting” a saviour, and they keep you in an endless cycle of feeling down on yourself because you need them.

I believe it’s a trap, clearly.

If you look at any situation in your past that was an emergency… take a moment to step back and think… you cut yourself badly while cooking and watching television, you stepped on a rusted nail while walking outside barefooted, your son or daughter broke their arm while playing outside with friends… when an emergency situation happens, you have no choice but to trust your judgement.

You do not have a guide to turn to for questions and directions. You just have to act, in the moment, NOW.

When you are faced with an emergency, you act on your intuition. In my belief, we should always act on our intuition and look to ourselves, our “inner” voice for guidance. Not look to external sources like “gurus” and “spiritual” teachers for guidance.

When I was 22 years old, I became disillusioned with the lifestyle I was living as a full-time martial arts student. I was disillusioned by my teachers, two Japanese masters who had studied directly under the founder of Aikido. I expected these two men to be my gurus, but instead I spent 15 hours a day cleaning toilets and showers, vacuuming, answering telephones, folding hakamas, making coffee for one of them who was my boss, and being the victim of all the abuse and angst of the students who walked in and out of the doors of the dojo on a daily basis.

In hindsight, the error was my own, in expecting gurus to be there to guide me. But it also served as a warning, many people make themselves out to be “spiritual” leaders or “gurus” in order for you to place your devotion in them, so that you will serve them, support them financially, support their organization financially. In the mean-time, your “spiritual” advancement is not their responsibility, because if you fail, it was obviously not their lack of guidance that failed, but your lack of discipline or commitment.

I knew in the month before I decided to leave the dojo that not a single person in the world would be able to tell me what I should do with my life. I knew the the sole responsibility of what I chose to do with my life lay on my shoulders. When I left the dojo I had no money in my pockets and no place to stay. I leaned on friends and acquaintances and learned a valuable lesson in humility and self-reliance.

Throughout the entire dismal events of that year, I had to trust my intuition and had to guide myself on what course of action I would take. I wasn’t happy with all the outcomes, but I learned valuable lessons and learned to live moment to moment through that period of my life, without ever doubting my actions.

While I was living at the dojo, I was constantly given a “carrot” to keep me going. I would soon be able to test for a certain rank, just keep up my good work. I would soon be given this or that honor or special position or special treatment for my commitment and loyalty to my teacher. I was a part of a special group of people, I was unique, I was in a class of my own. Once I realized that I was just being used as a tool I broke free of the attachment of needing a guru or teacher.

It took me a few years to realize that through my hard-work and experience, I had internalized all the teachings and experience I had spent countless hours training for. My “gurus” had become attachments, I had become a tool for them to use to keep up a need for their existence.

I learned through experience and through letting go of my need to seek guidance.

Please… Just Believe In Your Self. Be Who You Are and Always Trust Your Intuition.

What is Mind/Body Awareness?
I hear a lot of mention of “mind/body” everywhere today, in yoga articles, in fitness magazines, in news reports, I use the term myself in describing the martial art style I teach.

So what is “mind/body” actually?

In the martial art training I offer, I speak of developing mind/body awareness. We do not perform the techniques and movements as mindless exercises to develop fighting skills (learning self-defense is a side-effect of the training we do). What I mean is that through training, we are developing awareness of how our bodies move and function as a whole, how our minds guide the actions of our bodies.

Stop for a moment and perform this short exercise. (I bet this is going to be one of the easiest exercises you have done since having to do jumping jacks in the 2nd grade):

1) Sit up straight and make your spine erect, imagine the top of your head is being gently lifted by a soft-strand of thread, so that your back and spine is fully elongated, yet you are gently relaxed.

2) Close your eyes. Don’t focus on anything, let your eyes relax in the closed position. Sometimes when we close our eyes, we are still focused on the mental images that our minds were fixed on when they were open. Let go of any mentally fixed images you may have once your eyes are closed. Let them completely relax.

3) Feel your breathing. Don’t necessarily focus on your breathing, because once you focus on one part or another you lose attention of the whole. Feel your breath as you inhale, entering your nostrils, flowing down your windpipe and filling your lungs, expanding your diaphragm and giving you life. Feel your breath as it leaves your body and the oxygen it carried fills you with life-giving energy.

Do this for several minutes. There is nothing to focus on, remember this. Just feel your spine elongated and relaxed, feel your eyes in their relaxed state, feel your breath as it flows in and out of your body.

As you feel, you are developing mind/body awareness.

I can say for myself… I am oftentimes a bundle of nervous energy. In Ayurveda this is an imbalance of Pitta and Vata… which makes me easily angered and agitated. I speak too fast, I become impatient, I sometimes over-react and jump to conclusions about things that I probably want to become upset about. So naturally, it is extremely important for me to develop mind/body awareness.

Training is a way to develop awareness of who we are and how we affect our environment. This is developing Mind/Body Awareness. The moment I step into my training I step-outside of who I “think” I am to the world around me, I become who I truly am … the person who senses, feels and is aware of my surroundings, my actions, my motivations and the consequence everything I think, say and do will have on the world around me.

When we train, we are developing this sensing of the connectedness our minds and bodies have on the whole of our beings and more largely, on the whole interconnectedness of human beings with each other, with the environment and with the world, and so on.

We may not be able to embody this awareness 24/7, but regular training is a reminder that we are here to embody this mind/body awareness. Regular training is also a way to actively make this awareness a regular part of who we are.

There is so much to say about how the martial art training I offer helps to develop this awareness, from the opening breathing exercises to the movements that help to develop the center (not just your internal center, but the center that is created by the connection between you and your training partner). I have to say that it takes participation in the training session to get an understanding of this aspect of my training.

Just remember though, in the classes I teach and take part in (I am an active participant with you in the training) — the primary focus is developing mind/body awareness through integration of the breath, mind and body — learning self-defense is a secondary (a side-effect) result of the training; a third effect is developing your body and feeling healthier through physical activity.

So the next time you read in a brochure for a workshop on “Mind/Body” and whatever the workshop entails, you will know what to look for in developing Mind/Body Awareness.

I just finished reading “A New Earth” by Eckhart Tolle. I have to say that this has been one of the most insightful books I have read in my life.

The one word that comes to mind after taking in the information and knowledge offered by Eckhart Tolle is Honesty.

How honest are you to your self? I feel that many of us go through life in a shadow of self-doubt and self-censorship… for what? We are afraid of how others will think and speak of us.

I like to believe that I am an open book. I am honest with myself and with others, in how I speak to them and how I present myself to the world around me.

Recently, only 2 weeks ago in fact, I told someone “I Love You”. I knew the words were strong and most of us are deathly afraid to put ourselves out there in this manner. But I told her how I felt about her. I was fully aware of what her reactions may be. She very politely told me that she didn’t feel the same way about me.

It was a very positive experience. I learned about myself through this experience. I learned that I was able to express myself without fear. I learned from Eckhart Tolle that I did not have to identify with the negative emotions that may have emerged from putting myself out there on a limb; and I did not identify or personalize the emotions that did emerge from this experience. It was a lesson in presence… being present in the Now.

Being honest with yourself opens doors of opportunity that will bring forth the abundance that lies within your heart. Honesty begins first with being truthful to the factors that motivate you in life.

What do you want Now?

So many of us are stuck on the idea of wanting more money in our lives. We feel that money IS happiness and we get stuck on trying to manifest money and wealth in our lives.

In the mean-time all the abundance and joy right before our eyes are clouded by a pursuit of material wealth and a false sense of security.

Honesty is understanding that maybe what we truly enjoy: a quiet evening at home with our family, reading a great book alone on a park bench on a sunny afternoon, a hot cup of black tea on a cold and rainy afternoon… these are experiences of abundance and joy… yet these experiences cost little or no money at all.

When you begin to be honest with your true self, the truth that inspires you to get out of bed each morning no matter how little sleep you had and how bad the previous day was, when you begin to live your life in honesty… you begin to let go of the little fears and excuses that come up that hinder your emotional expression.

We can all learn from our favorite books. We can be the open book that we read and are inspired by. The next time you are completely engrossed in a book that inspires… stop and meditate for a few minutes when you end your reading session: “How has this book inspired me? How can I carry this feeling of inspiration into other areas of my life? How can I add the value I received from this book to the lives of those around me?

Be the Open Book that inspires, educates and informs the world around you. We begin to perform miracles in very small steps. We just have to turn the first page.

In the Summer of 1987, when I was a little 11 year old kid in Sunnyvale, California, Guns ‘N Roses came out with the song Welcome to the Jungle. The song was used in a Dirty Harry movie and was a huge hit. Today, the lyrics stick out as a reminder to us of the problems we face as a society…

“Welcome to the jungle We got fun ‘n’ games
We got everything you want Honey we know the names
We are the people that can find Whatever you may need
If you got the money honey We got your disease”

We live in a hedonistic and materialistic society. We Are Not Whole in Modern Society, Unless we Play the Game of Greed and Materialism.

My Goal as a martial arttist is to help each person who comes to train with me, One-By-One, to eradicate this egotism… this dependency on constantly feeding the ego’s desires for materialism and greed, the acquirement of wealth and the constant desire to inflict violence on those we are unable to identify with.

In the 21st Century, we are like animals in the jungle. But We Do Not Have to Be Animals. We can help each other, with Love and with Kindness… to be whole human beings who choose to end violence and help one another to live fuller lives. We can Add-Value to the lives of others by small acts of kindness and love.

Training in the martial arts helps us to physically understand that we are not our egos. We are not as powerful and physically strong as our egos would want us to believe.

If you have never been in a true physical fight… having to defend yourself from physical injury in the face of an attacker who is trying to truly inflict injury upon you… you have never felt true suffering. But in our lives… suffering is what brings us in touch with our human side. When we understand suffering, we understand that we are connected to each other spiritually.

Martial art training allows us to safely immerse ourselves in human suffering, so that we may allow ourselves to be one with the energy of the universe and understand that we can ultimately transcend suffering and become en-lightened individuals.

When we allow ourselves to walk in the jungle, we become one with the universal life-force that does not care about how much money we make, what degrees we have earned, how much our homes are worth, or what designer brands of clothes we wear. We understand that we are all animals struggling for a piece of peace in this world filled with mystery and hope.

We All Have a Life Purpose. Some may call it Destiny. How do you recognize it? It’s that deep desire you have longed for ever since you were a child. The voice inside you that was slowly silenced as you grew up and became an adult member of society.

Today. Reclaim Who You Are. Recognize and Acknowledge Your Life Purpose and Destiny, then Go and Accomplish Your Goals.

How to Know Your Life Purpose, by Stephanie Relfe

I am continuing teaching my weekly classes at Moving Body Resources in New York City (112 West 27th Street Suite #402)

Here is My Website Address:
http://www.gregorysoon.com

There you will find the class schedule and updated class information.
Fridays :: 6:00p to 7:45p @ MBR
Saturdays :: 3:15p to 5:00p @ MBR

Wellness and Health Links:
Ayurveda:
Alexia Neonakis :: Ayurvedic Consultation and Vedic Astrology Readings
Holistic Online :: Ayurveda Information

Wellness:
Stephanie Relfe’s Weblog
Moving Body Resources

What is Freedom? What is Suffering?
A spiritual guru can only teach you a lesson from his or her experience. So my belief is that spiritual awakening is experiential and unique for every individual.

A moment of spiritual enlightenment is like a snowflake or a fingerprint… no two are alike and is unique only to the individual who has experienced it.

Assuming that You are seeking a sense of personal well-being in your life, what questions have arisen in your mind, your thoughts, your body and emotions?

We all think, feel and want to be heard and understood.

It is easy to pick up a book by your favorite spiritual guru/feel-good-author-of-the-month and hear them say things like, “You are not your thoughts!”, “You are not your emotions”, “You are not your ego”, “Be Present in the Now!” etc. etc. etc.

Here is where we have to start turning inward and looking into ourselves for answers. Only we know the answers we need in our lives. A spiritual guru can only teach you a lesson from his or her experience. So my belief is that spiritual awakening is experiential and unique for every individual. A moment of spiritual enlightenment is like a snowflake or a fingerprint… no two are alike and is unique only to the individual who has experienced it.

Meditation is a way of turning inward and listening to the stillness in our hearts that speaks a thousand years worth of wisdom.

Corny? Yeah it is, but try sitting in quiet for about an hour and see how long you can hold out before you have to go looking for your iPod… or start thinking of what you’re going to do after the sitting is over and done with.

Can you sit in stillness, in quiet, where no one is around and no one sees you or knows what you are doing?

Can you sit in stillness and quiet knowing that there will be absolutely no goal to achieve, no reward to gain, no money to be made, no debate to win and no desire to be filled?

Can you sit in that stillness and quiet and live with yourself?

This stillness and quiet is where Freedom begins and Suffering ends. It is the awakening spoken of by so many spiritual hosts that have walked the Earth in the past.

Where do we begin to experience stillness, when our hearts, minds, bodies and lives are full of such a loud wind that it seems we are in the midst of a hurricane and just looking for something to hold onto?

We have to understand that stillness is not an easy task. It is one of the most difficult things to work for in our lives. Make a commitment starting today, that you will work for stillness, for quiet in your life.

We begin by training… martial art training can be a useful tool for someone on a meditative path. Training releases an enormous amount of nervous energy from the mind and the body. It also is a method to tune-up for concentration skills and develop more focus.

Bodhidharma, the Indian saint who introduced Chan (Zen) meditation to China, taught martial arts to the monks living in the Shaolin Temple. Before Bodhidharma taught them the physical exercises (Hatha Yoga), the monks lacked focus and the endurance/agility to spend several hours in meditation each day.