Vision Magazine December 2010 Edition by Vision magazine

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“Get Outside”

e all fall into routines. Some are good, some are bad. When I think about daily living, I reflect on any given day on any given week and how I used my time. More often than not I realize I spend a by Brennan Lagasse lot of time on the computer. My daily routine usually includes an allocation of time for the computer, and it must, as this tool helps me make a thing I previously mentioned. Nonetheless, multiple hour adventures into the living. Whether I’m writing an article, researching for a project, or studying the Sierra Nevada backcountry fuel me. Missions to ski fresh snow under a full moon weather, the computer sucks up more time then I’d care to admit. On some days or hike along the illuminated shores of Lake Tahoe are always on my mind. I know when the “to-do” list has backed up and caused me to be plugged in for 12+ hours, I have a lot of options for getting outside that speak to me in my area, but you my eyes start to lose focus. I literally have to snap myself out of the glaze and should too. Whether you’re my neighbor or one of the many millions who live in remember that even if it’s only for half an hour, I owe it to myself and the gift of the urbanized centers in California, there is something outside that sparks your interest. life to get outside. Think about getting outside as mantra for your practice of daily living. It could Luckily for me I live in a place where, as long as I’m motivated, I can tap into a plethora of engaging activities. Right out my door and down the street is a great be anything from a walk in an urban park and noticing the graffiti art, to the place for mountain biking, trail running, and hiking. The dogs love it, and if trees changing color as the seasons progress, to full moon adventures, and 20 hour that’s all I have time for, so be it. A fifteen or so minute drive will bring me to missions skiing in the backcountry. Getting outside in any and every way is a trails that lead into wilderness areas, huge faces of granite, waterfalls, and other worthy use of time and will help energize your day. It can’t be too time consuming earthly delights. Although I know I have to plug in most days, and usually for because, sigh, most of us must work long hours to make ends meet. But you can great lengths of time, I’ve come to recognize how important time outside is for a still fit something into your routine if you make it a priority. If you’re not already addicted to spending time outside, pencil in a small chunk truly “productive” day. I always feel as though whatever activity I can do is better of each day next week and do something you enjoy outdoors. Walk, run, bird than not doing it. It’s really easy for me to wake up, rub the mouse, and get right to work. I like to watch, BBQ, have a drink, pick up some litter, literally start with anything that be productive and love that feeling when you’ve put a lot of work into something, jumps out to you and add it to your daily living routine. I bet you’ll try and keep you like the end product, and you have the satisfaction of sending off something it in your routine after a week or so, and that time outside will become something you’re sincerely proud of. But on those days, I find that when the sun has gone you look forward to each day. It’s a gift to see the sun, feel the rain, breathe the air, down and I’ve barely left the chair that sits in front of the computer, even if I and when added to all the other things that fill up our daily lives, getting outside produced something great, I still feel a bit off. However, add a simple walk with can be one of the most important parts to a healthy and balanced day. the dogs through some old cedar trees and the day seems that much brighter. Brennan Lagasse is a writer and environmental consultant living in Lake Tahoe, Getting outside has this affect on me and my day, and I trust in the belief that getting outside each and every day is an influential and positive part to any day CA. His recently published book, Waiting for the Snow to Fall: First Nations, that makes my daily living routine feel more balanced. I know many others who Federal Policy, and Environmental Justice, explores the tenets of holistic sustainable land-use policy applied and understood through critical examination of the plan to feel the same way. I must admit I am a bit of an outdoor junky. In reality, my choice is to spend as expand the Arizona Snowbowl ski resort near Flagstaff, AZ. He can be reached at much time outdoors as possible, but of course there’s the matter of that computer brennanlagasse@hotmail.com. V I S I O N M AG A Z I N E

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On Healthy Eating

’m on a juice fast today. Part of me is strong and determined, while the other is on the by Chi Luciano Pellos verge of grabbing a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. It’s been a year since my last fast and now that I’m faced with the hunger, I ask myself again, “Why do I do this?” One reason is because I want to test my will. I’ve been meaning to do this for months, but I have ended the procrastination today. This society spoils us, and everything you want is given to you—fast. The economy runs on consumption, and while it works better when people can spend, how good is this for the individual? I’ve had my share of shopping, buying, eating and gorging, but when you come home with an empty wallet and a bulging stomach, what then? If this present economy teaches us one thing, I hope it is the virtue of restraint. Sure, you can buy as much as you want with money, but sometimes the act of disciplining the self and controlling the will becomes more valuable than any purchase. I’m also on a juice fast now because I know it works for me. A year ago, I had sinus surgery because of stubborn nasal polyps. Weeks later, they came back. I refused to go under the knife again and decided to heal myself. For one whole month, I ate 70 percent raw food at every meal, drank tons of fruit and vegetable (mostly carrot) juice, and went on a one-day juice fast. Of course, it helped that I ran away to a secluded island, tucked away from city temptations. When I went back to get my check-up, the polyps were gone. That’s when I realized how much what you put in your body can change your health and your life. Sometimes the names confuse me, vegetarianism and its many forms. To label myself, I guess I would be mostly an ovo-lacto vegetarian (includes eggs and milk). Some weeks, I would be pescatarian (includes fish), which would make me an ovo-lacto pescatarian. And at other times, I’ve even shocked my family by eating chicken! My husband considers himself a pescatarian (but he only eats fish once a month at most) and I have many beautiful vegan friends. But whether you are vegetarian or omnivore, the point I would like to V I S I O N M AG A Z I N E

h o l i s t i c h e a l t h make is that vegetables are good for you and we should all eat as many greens as we can at every meal. I’ve also found that green smoothies are a great way to do it. Add kale, spinach, collard greens, or other leafy vegetables to your fruit smoothies and it’s a yummy way to start a healthy day. (Write to me if you want recipes.) Now, if you are sick, would like to be more serious with your health, or just want to get rid of the toxins in your body, eating raw and juicing is a great way to go. Live foods, as they are called, not only nourish the body, but the spirit as well. There is a lot of research out there about the benefits of raw food and juicing. The problem for many people is the actual doing. We are creatures of habit and it’s hard to just wake up one day and get into it. Meditating and writing helps to break the old routine and form

new habits. Make sure your intentions are clear, and write down a specific plan on how you want to eat more raw foods, juice, or incorporate more fruits and vegetables into your diet. I have also found that a temporary change in environment helps to kick-start the process. When I was sick, I went to the island of Palawan in the Philippines. For one whole month, I had the luxury of just being with myself and choosing with my mind and will what I wanted to put inside my body. It was at Bahay Kalipay (House of Happiness) where I healed myself. After a month of good raw food, meditation, yoga, and long strolls on the beach, I felt healthier than I’ve ever been in my life. The founder of Bahay Kalipay, Pi Villaraza, is a very good friend from college, and is fulfilling his life calling—to help people remember their spirit. Chi Luciano Pellos loves to paint, write, walk, and dance, and was a college instructor for 7 years. Please e-mail her with your questions and comments (or learn more about Bahay Kalipay) at cpellos@gmail. com.

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ho l i s t i c

h e a l t h

Going Veg’—The Healthy Way by Amanda Hinds

ithin American culture, meat seems to play a major role in social gatherings. Friends and families throughout the United States gather around a 20 pound turkey or ham, annually on December 25, to partake in the Christmas holiday. Taking away the commercialization of Christmas, the central festivities revolve around the meal and drink. The centerpiece, cooked for your dining experience, is generally a very large ham, turkey, or beef cut. It’s not just Christmas; there’s Easter chicken, Thanksgiving turkey, and even New Year’s pork and sauerkraut. Only recently has it become fairly common to hear words such as Tofurky, meatless gravy, or vegan pie around the holidays. Vegetarianism seems to be the new “Green.” “Go Veg,” perhaps? According to a 2008 study published in the Vegetarian Times, 3.2 percent of US adults, or 7.3 million people, are vegetarian. Of that 7.3 million, 1 million are strictly vegan, consuming no animals products. While this number seems minute to the US Census Bureau’s population clock of approximately 310 million, the number of vegetarians has grown immensely from the approximated 0.3 percent to 1 percent of the population, published in the 1994 July/August issue of the Vegetarian Journal.

Today, vegetarians have many resources such as the Vegetarian Journal, Vegetarian Times, and many online websites to research recipes and nutrition facts and make sure they are living a healthy lifestyle. Crossing over to vegetarianism seems easy enough. However, nutritionist and eight-year vegetarian Heather Erzen says, “It can be very tough for people who do not have a strong academic interest,” meaning that they are probably not getting an adequate amount of nutrients. Erzen became a vegetarian when she was 19 years old. For her, and about 54 percent of US vegetarians, according to the 2008 study published in Vegetarian Times, the decision came from concerns about animal welfare. “I always felt like I didn’t want to eat animals,” says Erzen. “I always did because I grew up in a family that did.” When she was old enough, she made the decision on her own. She found that her transition from accounting to nutrition proved very helpful during her struggle with vegetarianism, which derived from a life-altering trip to her grandparents’ house one summer. Her grandfather had gone through heart surgery prior to her arrival. Knowing that the habitual “steak and potato” diet was probably still being followed, Erzen immediately took to the fridge, where she gutted a variety of products. While strolling the beach, after redeeming the refrigerator to its glory, she thought, “Wow I could probably do this as a career.” Working with both vegetarians and meat-eaters alike, Erzen has seen her fair share of wellness problems. In general terms, she helps individuals who are not doing well, making sure they are getting adequate nutrition to return to a healthy lifestyle. Heart disease and diabetes patients are among the few she has worked with in the past. Vegetarians are a different animal. The vegetarians Erzen worked with were not inflicted with any disease, but more so, were nutrient deficient. Dealing with similar problems as most vegetarians do, along with her extensive academic background in nutrition, Erzen can accurately determine and focus on an individual’s problems. “Not everything works for everyone,” she says, but a general compilation of a patient’s daily routine will show what is lacking from his or her diet. Erzen says that, like herself, a generous amount of people begin their vegetarianism “cold turkey.” “Basically what I did was just dropped meat, not really thinking about what I needed to add in to get those same nutrients,” says Erzen. Mac and cheese, grilled cheese, and an abundance of cereal became her new diet. “I was eating a lot of crap.” Coming to this conclusion and searching for the road to becoming a better vegetarian was fairly gradual for her. Since Erzen was a freshmen in college, this behavior was fairly typical, but continued on page 40

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“I read the news today, oh boy” —from the Beatles’ “A Day in the Life” “Life is hell. Then again, it beats the options.” —my Uncle Tasso Years ago, when I would get the occasional acting job, I observed something about myself that until that time had gone unnoticed. Upon arriving on set, I would immediately seek out the craft services table. (“Craft services” is movie-speak for food.) Depending on the budget of the project, the quality of what was being offered would vary greatly, but the one constant on any shoot was the presence of what can only be generously described as “a flotilla of shit”—items with enough sugar, salt, and processed ingredients to assure their continued edibility in the event of an extended nuclear episode. And even if the director or the name talent didn’t provide some form of atomic meltdown, these comestibles assured that everyone would at least be brighteyed and bushy-tailed for the marathon ahead. If my first taste of the day was of the junk variety, the die was cast. The rest of the shoot would be nothing more than a downward spiral into the belly of a glucoseglutted beast. And by the day’s end, I would be so bug-eyed from what I had ingested that it was as if it had ingested me. But if I paused for just an instant in that flashpoint when I was first deciding what to eat, if I could avert my gaze from the stacks of sweets and find myself something reasonable, dare I say something even actively healthy, I was redeemed. The end of the day would come and the only person with a viable complaint would be the cook who had diced all those raw vegetables only to realize out that he hadn’t purchased enough. Who says there is no ‘rut’ in routine? Cut to a shot of a middle-aged writer. (That would be me.) It’s years later. I awaken to a different flotilla, as it were. This armada of distraction floats in the ether known as cyberspace, and is currently moored in my computer, just off the coast of my consciousness, never more than a click or two away. It poses a constant that, absent an act of god, will result in an endless stream of online commotion: the New York Times; e-mail; attempts at activism that involve sacrifices of untold commitment like clicking my mouse; Craigslist; more e-mail; a round of backgammon; Craigslist redux; and endless permutations of the same cycle, done with increasing speed and everV I S I O N M AG A Z I N E

g r e e k t o m e deepening despair, all of which makes what I consumed back when I was acting look like manna from heaven by comparison. As with the craft services example, though, if I can divert myself to the couch in front of the coffee table where I have wisely placed my blank notebook and pen, my day will have a chance. Because if I can start my day by writing—you know, that thing I am supposed to be doing—then I go a long way to not impaling myself in front of my computer for the duration. Who put the ‘void’ in avoidance behavior? I don’t know how old you have to be for it to be okay to have that conversation in which you ask yourself if you were to die today, how you would feel. I confess to having this chat on a regular basis, and the conclusions drawn are rarely satisfactory. Curing canned hams, brokering peas in the Middle East, and starring in a reality TV show about the perils of living without having tapped my alleged reserves of creativity are surrendered in favor of what? The frozen realization that nothing is heavier than the crushing weight of a broken promise. Especially when the person who made the vow and its object are one and the same. So how do you mend a broken promise? Recently, I had occasion to get up at the crack of dawn, something I consider an unnatural act. In fact, given my nocturnal ways, I would be a lot more likely to see the sun rise before I went to bed than to get up before it did. But on this day I was able to see it sidle over the mountains to the east, inching its way into the sky. Inspired by the simple majesty of that event, I was moved to action. I landed on the page with both feet. I wrote like a man living in the shadow of a gallows he had erected. The power generated from my outburst overwhelmed me, frightening me into paralysis—what was I doing? I didn’t know this person. I knew the fella who would stray and swerve in the face of confronting what he wanted to do, but wouldn’t. Though this guy was foreign to me, somehow the momentum of the morning carried through the day. Later, at dusk, the sun ignored me as it slipped silently into the ocean. But it didn’t matter— we had partnered, if only for a few hours. And for the first time in a long time, the broken promise that my days had become felt repaired. I had taken responsibility for a day. And in so doing I felt a life in the day. My life. I haven’t had a day like that in quite a while. But I know now that I can. And I will. I’ll bet a life on it. P.S. Though the holidays can be a great time of year, they can be tough, too. I want to thank you for gifting me with your readership. I hope that you feel reciprocated by what I write here. May your holidays be filled with light, love, and the spirit of the season. All the best and then some, MR. Michael Raysses is a writer/NPR commentator. E-mail him at MichaelRaysses@hotmail. com.

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L i f e Q u a k e ™

Ask the

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Opportunities come up all day long to promote peace in the world. What are you doing today to promote the well-being of others and more joy for yourself?

Dr. Toni Galardi

Dear Dr. Toni: I hate the holidays. People are more unconscious in their driving, shopping, and general activities in their push to get to the next thing. If I could go away for the entire month of December, I would, but I can’t. What do you suggest I do so I’m not such a Scrooge/curmudgeon this year? The Bah Humbug Queen Dear Reader: As the sluggish economy drags on, unfortunately it has hurt charities who are dependent on people’s generosity at this time of year. In years past, it was a good balance to all the focus on the material side of the holidays. Now, not only are people not giving as much to non-profit organizations that support those less fortunate, but they also have less to spend in general, and it has led to the skyrocketing of cheap addictions like the Internet. However, one person who chooses to commit to living altruistically can make a difference. Altruism, according to the Webster Dictionary, means “the unselfish concern for the welfare or well-being of others.” In my book, “The LifeQuake Phenomenon,” I discuss in the last chapter how this personality trait increases immune function, stabilizes neurotransmitters and, if practiced in balance with your own needs, leads to greater prosperity. The old idea about being altruistic as something that requires self-sacrifice is passé. This month is a great opportunity to focus away from what you can’t give your kids, family, or friends and instead jumpstart 2011 by spending the holiday season of December giving your love away. When you want to yell at someone for being unconscious, shift into your heart and ask the question, “What can I say here that is ultimately going to assist me in my well-being after we part?” In the moment that we give in to reactive behavior, we can feel immediate relief, but you will find you are more drained by anger than by using your breath to let the thought go and ask for a shift in your way of seeing the situation. Choosing to focus your awareness throughout the day on being a stand for love is infectious. When we are around someone who is angry or depressed, we can become less of ourselves; however, the opposite is also true. Smile when someone is reacting to their own self-induced pressure. Case in point, while I was waiting in line to purchase groceries, the woman in front of me was highly stressed. I thought she had forgotten her wallet as she leaned down to attend to her toddler in the stroller after paying for her purchases. I picked up the wallet to hand it to her and she lashed out at me that she was coming back to get it. I stayed calm and loving and simply shared that I thought she had forgotten it and was trying to help. She then relaxed and responded by thanking me and apologizing.

Dear Dr. Toni: I have been working in a prominent law firm with great benefits for five years. About a year ago, I started having these dreams in which I am no longer living in the city and am sitting in front of an easel and canvas outside a farm house. The canvas is blank but I have this peaceful look on my face. The dream scares me because I have no way of supporting a life as an artist, and yet I am really bored with my job. I do feel drawn to do something radically different, and living in the country feels comforting, but I can’t leave my job until I have a clear plan for what I am going to do next, not to mention health benefits. What should I do, Dr. Toni? Frustrated Dear Reader: First of all, I think it is marvelous that your unconscious mind is giving you messages. If you continue, though, to do nothing with these messages, you will invite a crisis to force you to make the changes that will be authentic to your soul. Boredom is often the first stage of evolutionary change. It is a transitional emotion. If we begin an inquiry into noticing what does interest us, our emotional tone will evolve. If we do nothing, boredom often devolves into depression, and this is when addictions and illnesses often occur. If you look at your life as a hero’s adventure, then dreams are meant to be clues to the direction of the voyage. Begin by taking day trips to places you feel drawn to where a farm house might exist. Notice how you feel when you’re there. Go to a small diner there or grocery store and reach out to the locals. By putting ourselves in the field of play, synchronicity can show up. People can guide you to your next step that, sitting at your desk or in your apartment, you would never discover by yourself. And given that you’ve been receiving this dream for a year, once you do start to take action, before you go to sleep, ask to be shown the next step during the dreamtime. The blank canvas and peaceful look on your face can mean that this transition where you don’t have a “picture painted yet” can be a peaceful, easy process. When I work with clients by phone, I teach them how to stimulate dream recall and always have them record their dreams. Dreams can provide great guidance in times of transition. Dr. Toni Galardi is a licensed psychotherapist, career coach, public speaker, organizational consultant, and the author of the book, The LifeQuake Phenomenon: How to Thrive (Not Just Survive) in Times of Personal and Global Upheaval. To submit questions for “Ask the LifeQuake Doctor,” or if you would like to consult Dr. Galardi for SKYPE or phone coaching, she can be reached through her website at www. LifeQuake.net or at 310.890.6832.

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H o l i s t i c H o l i d ay a t S e a :

yoga, meditation, and pilates classes; or the eighth year in a row, integrative relaxation; and natural foods Holistic Holiday at Sea will take cooking classes. Not only are there group travelers around the Western activities, put there are also dozens of Caribbean for an experience which by Shannon Nies individual consultations and treatments is unlike any other cruise out there. available for those who are looking for a Departing from Fort Lauderdale, the one-on-one, personal experience. These luxurious ship, MSC Poesia, will take private sessions are given by presenters travelers to Key West, Jamaica, Grand who are experts on yoga, meditation, Cayman, and Mexico. macrobiotic food and cooking, and Holiday at Sea stops at exciting ports alternative medicine. Some of the just like other cruises, but this cruise optional consultations and treatments offers something different—a space to are: writers workshop consultation; learn about a holistic way of living and cooking intensive; hypnotherapy; eating. The cruise is sponsored by A Taste personal lifestyle counseling and of Health, a non-profit organization coaching; private yoga and breath dedicated to create awareness of the work; healing and acupuncture; and importance of holistic ways of achieving macrobiotic counseling. physical and spiritual well-being. The The Holistic Holiday at Sea provides trip was started in 2005 by Sandy Pukel an exceptional dining experience that is and John Belleme with the intention of educating the public on holistic, macrobiotic eating as well as alternative ways to vastly different from the majority of today’s cruises. Instead of having to face an heal within. The success of the cruise has soared, having grown 100% in the last overwhelming buffet at nearly every meal, the passengers on Holiday at Sea dine in one of two elegant dining rooms with a menu designed by Mark Hanna, a five years. The cruise offers activities and shore excursions similar to those found on a world renowned natural food chef. The food that is served is vegan, vegetarian, typical cruise—snorkeling, kayaking, catamaran sailing, dolphin swimming— macrobiotic, and when possible, organic. There is even the option to request a but with a twist. The Holistic Holiday cruise gives passengers the opportunity “healing menu.” Some past dishes include seitan (wheat gluten) paella, blueberry to educate themselves about holistic health, nutrition, and methods to find inner peach crumble, kasha cabbage roll with mustard sauce, and shiitake paté. (The peace and achieve a state of physical, emotional, and spiritual well-being. A few of recipes for these dishes can be found in the “Cuisine” section of the cruise’s Web the many unique onboard activities include: keynote speaker presentations; daily site, given below.) These meals are ideal for those who find it difficult to find

A Voya g e to We l l- B e i n g

continued on page 41

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m i n d s t a t e s

Richard Bartlett, DC, ND, teaches Matrix Energetics©, a consciousness technology for insight, spiritual growth and living a life unbound by the limits we have been trained to believe in. Teachable & transferable, Matrix Energetics© is accessible to everyone, from a ten-year old child to a medical professional. During this lifechanging weekend, we will learn the art of rewriting any rule of your reality about your health, your happiness, or even your understanding of what is physically possible.

Ageless Secret: A Conversation with Originator Jim Kaszyk by Sydney L. Murray

recently had the opportunity to try a new product by a pretty amazing chemist, Jim Kaszyk, who has created a product that can turn back the hands of time. The Ageless Secret™ is a trade name of KASZ Enterprises Inc., founded by Kaszyk, President and Chief Technologist. The company’s mission is to investigate ancient technologies reputed to promote health and extend life and to use the best of these as the basis for beneficial, modern commercial applications. Kaszyk has advanced new ideas connecting Eastern Medical Bio Energy Technologies with Western DNA Science, leading to a new way of looking at the human body and the mind body connection. The Ageless Secret technology developed by Kaszyk involves the ability of crystalline structures to amplify life and revitalize cellular energies. Kaszyk believes that modern science will allow us to rediscover the underlying principles of respected ancient healing technologies. This discovery heralds the dawn of a new age of understanding life and the true cause of aging.

Richard Bartlett, DC, ND, has helped thousands of people since founding Matrix Energetics©. He is the author of Matrix Energetics: The Science and Art of Transformation (Atria Books/Beyond Words), The Matrix Energetics Experience (Sounds True), and The Physics of Miracles (Atria Books/Beyond Words).

Upcoming Seminars:

San Francisco, CA Levels 1 & 2: January 28 - 31, 2011 Level 3: February 2 - 3, 2011

San Diego, CA Level 4: February 26 - 28, 2011

Scottsdale, AZ Levels 1 & 2: March 11 - 14, 2011

Seattle, WA Vision Magazine: How did the Ageless Secret product come about? Levels 1 & 2: May 20 - 23, 2011 Jim Kaszyk: It actually came about through serendipity. I am a chemist and am involved in a number of Practitioners Certification: May 24, 2011 different chemical disciplines, and I eventually got involved with a hair loss product as a favor to a friend.

1.800.269.9513 WWW.MATRIXENERGETICS.COM

They were having problems with their product, so I started doing research to make it better. Then they went out of business and I was left with 1000 customers that we were selling this product to. This was an herbal product and we believed it made hair fuller and thicker. It was very successful. My strategy was using customer testimonials to sell my product. [However,] the FDA mandates that you be forbidden to use those testimonials (even though my clients said it worked and we had photos and documentation). They kept going to court with me and eventually they won. I was trying to find the answer to create the world’s greatest baldness remedy. I then came across the research of Dr. Gerber and his book, “Vibrational Medicine.” The book had mentioned the research of Dr. Harold Burr, from Yale. It said in Gerber’s book that when Dr. Burr measured the shape of the energy field around V I S I O N M AG A Z I N E

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m i n d s t a t e s a seeded sprout, it was not the shape of the seeded sprout, but the adult plant that it was to become. I was looking for a way to exhaust all the physical realm of possibilities of trying to create a product that was going to work better, and I said, this [research] looks really good. This is the connection between DNA and, of course, the belief that hair loss is hereditary. I thought, this is what I am looking for. So I wanted to duplicate Burr’s research and I called Dr. Gerber. He said, “You need to use Kirlian photography instead of what Dr. Burr did because you won’t be able to duplicate his electrodes or the research he did exactly. But Kirlian will give you a good indication of what direction to go in.” So using Kirlian photography, and working with that, and taking lots of photos and different ingredients and seeing the compatibility with the human body and what happens to the energy field, I was moving forward in my research. Eventually I developed a formula that I thought was going to be really great for my people. I had clients trying it and they got the same responses I did—it really wasn’t doing much for their hair, but their skin looked fabulous. It took me about two years to pull out what was [the ingredient] creating the improvement to the skin. VM: Tell me about the energetic component. JK: I was reading several books by Dr. Chopra [and] Chopra said that in, I think it was, “Quantum Healing,” that all the matter in the earth was recycled—that it was used over and over again. Abraham Lincoln or Julius Caesar or Genghis Khan could have breathed some of the air that you and I are breathing right now. I believe that all matter has an energetic component to it, and according to the research of Dr. Chopra, that energy becomes [stale over time]. [This was] not the same as when the world was young. It was reported in biblical times that people lived for almost a thousand years. This is really wild [since], according to the telomere theory of aging, our telomeres wear out after about the age of 125. So, what was different back then if they really did live this long? Maybe they didn’t live a thousand years. Maybe it was one quarter of that, but still, a couple hundred years is still pretty good. I said they probably had something different back then and I thought it was the ingredients [they consumed], the way that the world was different. The world today is so polluted that it is so hard for Mother Earth refresh the ingredients the same way. My goal was to find a way to create ingredients that were more like when the earth was young. If I had these super ingredients, then the way I would know is that I would be able to use very tiny amounts of them and they would be very powerful. That is exactly what we have in my product, The Ageless Secret. We have very tiny amounts of MSM Aloe and trace minerals that are highly energized through vibration. These are gifts that the earth has given us, and in return we are supposed to learn. Now it is our turn to try and give back, to try to help Mother Earth to become more revitalized. [Ageless Secret also] boosts the energy in the skin. To prove that the product itself has energy in it is really difficult. What I have done is pour 50 milliliters of distilled water into a volumetric flask and then put in another 50 milliliters of Ageless Secret. Pour that into the water and you will get more than 100 millimeters. What happens is that, say for instance, on 1000 milliliters you would get an extra five milliliters. So it is continued on page 41 V I S I O N M AG A Z I N E

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Bhakti Fest

m i n d s t a t e s eel the Prana place (I don’t understand how exactly). It was hot this year, and there Although the mind will wander, yogis— by Daphne Carpenter we were, a blended tribe of like warriors—keep coming back to their yogis, waking up to extreme desert heat, center. Breathe. Focus. Drink water out ready to synchronize ourselves to higher there. Oh the agony of morning desert vibrations. And many of us were simply asana! What’s up with this heat? looking forward to built-up drama being Although the battle over distressing burned away by the sun. and overactive thoughts seems to never The 2010 Bhakti Fest was both a way cease, don’t worry. Soon you’ll be relaxing in and a way out for people. The fierceness under either of the shaded music tents— of the Joshua Tree’s arid landscape forced depending on your mood—and cooling Closing Ceremony, by Mario Covic us to focus on what we needed to survive off with a smoothie or a refreshing green and stay healthy. It relieved us of our daily responsibilities. The amazing landscape superfood drink before you can say, “Haribol!” at the Joshua Tree Spiritual Center was a sacred space which provided us an This end of summer bhakti journey was, for many of us, a means to prepare opportunity to celebrate our divinity. the body and spirit for the harvest season, and especially, the onset of more reflecAmazing artists (some of the most dedicated and talented in the Western kirtan tive days. It was the first time I had experienced the phenomenon of four days of world) like Krisna Das, Jai Uttal, Larisa Stow and the Shakti Tribe, and some of round-the-clock kirtan. The music just kept flowing! The tabla, the harmonium, my personal favorites, Arjun Baba, and the Kirtaniyas, helped make the festival a and the sweet sound of devotee voices kept the air alive in the spirit of bhakti. powerhouse under the sun and stars. From our tent (far out From the beginning, there was something in the campground), my very soothing and reassuring about the opening boyfriend and I were puja (fire) ceremony. I felt a deep sense of constantly comforted by solidarity between those of us who had at some the hypnotic and melodious time felt trampled on by life and were looking roll of ancient sounds and for ways to re-connect or stay connected. But mantras. The sweet sound many at the ceremony were people who devote literally penetrated into our themselves to something Higher, and are souls—the One Soul. We’d happy and content most of the time. fall asleep to chanting— The Bhakti Fest journey began with a even if it was four in the vigorous early morning yoga-asana session. morning. Then we’d wake Pray to the Hari Krishna Alter, by Mario Covic As a raving asana junky myself, for those four up to chanting—even if it days I would brave the heat and the little sleep was only 6 a.m.! Wake up and get it all going again! on the brain, and peel myself away from the And let me just add that it was refreshing to be at a festival devoid of drug comfort of a very cute sleeping boyfriend, just and alcohol debauchery. I learned a lot from these gorgeous, blissful people who Hindu Dancer, 2nd Stage, Kailas to contort my body into weird positions—to don’t feel the need to dip into a liquor cabinet to achieve a state of euphoria or feel the prana! Oneness. That is a way to remember that the body temple is the spiritual center from which everything flows. Wake up and feel the blood rushing through your veins! The Spirit Will Move You Open those energy centers! From there, everything else just kind of falls into At the heart of the event was devotion and the concepts of grace and selfsurrendering. The purpose of the music is to get us out of our heads and into our hearts (it’s not about how good you can belt out your best “Hare Hare,” but how you feel inside). In that vortex setting, there’s also an intense awareness that the

continued on page 44

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l i v i n g

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a r t s

c u l t u r e a level of clarity and insight she ntuition is an ability we all never thought possible. And many possess, a sense that all of us, professional psychics attest to the at some point or another, have fact that the only way they can experienced the occasional hit, hunch, access information for people is or “knowing” that saved us from to literally turn their analytical danger or warned us in advance of minds off, making way for intuitive something to be aware of. In a broad information to flow. sense, intuition is like an instinct—it There are countless different ways protects us and keeps us safe. However, to meditate, so the best thing to do for the majority of people, intuition is follow a practice that resonates is something that “just happens.” with you. You can try focusing Universally, we haven’t been trained to on your breath, or follow a set of control it, call on it at will, or utilize visualizations. Even guided audio it in our daily life; intuition is still so by Krishanti meditations work, and they’re a subtle and elusive that it’s hard for us wonderful way to bypass the near to harness it and create a daily working impossibility of getting your brain experience with it, to rely on it as we do to un-focus by sitting still in a chair our sense of taste, touch, smell, vision, trying to think about nothing. and hearing. With practice, you’ll be able to How can you more actively quiet your mind in a moment and incorporate your intuition into tap into your gut feelings whenever everyday life? Like any new routine, you need to. embracing your intuition requires an The last step to integrating active resolution to do so. But don’t worry—it’s not hard! Bringing intuition into your life should be fun, magical, and intuition into your daily life is to just go for it! This takes practice and requires mystical. The purpose of trusting your intuition is to make your life easier and you to notice when you get intuitive hits so you don’t chalk it up to circumstance more enchanted. In fact, trusting your intuition and integrating it into your daily or a one-time thing. Feeling out how intuition presents itself to you can be very helpful. Do you get a certain emotion, or a flash of a visual in your mind’s eye? life is so simple that you can do it in just three easy steps. The first and foremost step is to believe in your intuition and to actively decide Do you hear thoughts that seem a little wiser than your ordinary ones? Do you to believe that intuition is real. Look for as many examples as possible, both in get a sort of “instant knowing”? Or is it all of the above? With practice, you’ll get your life and in stories you’ve heard, of the power of intuition. Keep these in the hang of it. Pay attention to little thoughts like, “I better not leave that sweater your mind to prime yourself for more intuitive experiences. Some of my favorite out to dry on the table or the cat will pee on it” (true story). Notice when you’re examples are my mother’s uncanny sense of always knowing when I was up to thinking about someone and then they call or send you an email. Trust your gut something naughty (to my great aggravation), and my own “pit in the stomach” and check to see if that dish on the stove is burning. In time, you’ll be able to trust feeling that prompted me to pack up my office days before my company downsized your intuition with things that are more critical, like whether or not to take a job, and I got laid off. There are countless stories about people not getting on airplanes to start or end a relationship, or to move to a new place. As you work with your intuition more and more, it will become second nature that ended up crashing, of instinctively going to their children right before danger to you, a new method of processing information and making decisions that is as struck, and more. If you make a point to look out for them, you’ll find them. The second step to accessing your intuition involves turning down the chatter reliable (if not more) than your standard thought process. It can bring a level of of your analytical mind, which is difficult, but not impossible. Our minds are magical depth and understanding to your daily life that surpasses anything you’re filled with thoughts, ideas, feelings, and memories that distract us from the subtle used to experiencing, and most importantly, it will give you a greater sense of impressions of our intuitive side. In order to tune in to our gut feelings, we just confidence and faith in your ability to make decisions, to honor your gut feelings, have to quiet down. The easiest route to getting there is by meditating; opening and ultimately, to trust yourself. yourself up to real “quiet time” can do wonders for your intuitive side. If you do so Krishanti is an intuitive consultant based in Los Angeles, California and offers a with the intention of awakening your intuition, you’ll get there even faster. A client of mine started attending meditation retreats as a way to achieve greater peace variety of types of sessions to choose from. Please visit www.krishanti.com or e-mail and calmness, and as a side result, she’s become extremely intuitive, achieving intuitiveconsultations@gmail.com.

Integrating Intuition into your Daily Life

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2012 and the S h i f t by Maria Repke

ithin spiritual circles there is much information pouring out through Web sites, videos, books, and conferences of all kinds about a supposed shift taking place in astronomical, astrological, physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual realms in and around the year 2012. Around this time, astronomically it is said that planet Earth will be moving fully into a photon belt as well as coming into alignment with the Milky Way’s galactic core, which translates into new energies pouring through our solar system—this being all part of a natural cycle. This phase of the cycle, though, is particularly strong, and the earth has not witnessed these particular galactic movements in 27,000 years, thus marking the end of the highly regarded Mayan Calendar. What this shift is and why the Mayan Calendar ends is significantly debated, especially in regards to what it means in terms of climatic and energetic changes, if any, for our planet. What is also discussed in length is how this may affect humans in evolutionary terms. Many believe that planet Earth and its inhabitants will make a dimensional leap from currently experiencing the third dimension and advancing into the fifth dimension. They proclaim that the dimensional shift will strip away lower vibrations that have been keeping human beings in the dense third dimension. Some say that this shift will affect all Earth’s inhabitants, and others say that this dimensional upgrade will only be experienced by the beings that are willing and evolved enough to handle the vibrational change. And this will occur by a “splitting apart” of the currently somewhat overlapping dimensions (transversing through the fourth dimension, the astral) in a natural and seamless way. A diverting perspective from the one previously mentioned are those who keep their focus to the third dimension and to major changes to Earth’s surface and its people through cataclysms and catastrophes that are purported to increase up to and around the 2012 date. This includes violent weather, war, and governments moving more towards negative control and covert policies. This perspective often relates to more of what may be taken away than what will be received. Still, others affirm that a bit of both perspectives are unavoidable because of the great energy shifts, and in order to separate the “wheat from the chaff,” a bit of shaking needs to occur both personally and globally—what is outside reflects what is inside. All of these perspectives around 2012 are simply two sides of the same coin—one looking mainly to the positive and one looking mainly to the negative. There is no judgment on the ultimate helpfulness of any of these experiences and perspectives, for in the Absolute there is no waste—every experience is helpful in some way. This is beyond positive and negative and reminds us that everything is connected and all-inclusive. Ultimately there is no “outside” (or inside for that matter). All experiences serve True Self and All That Is. All experiences guide and can be pointers in guiding us Home and revealing our ultimate and true identity. To witness the bigger picture of us personally, globally, universally, and ultimately, we increasingly release any particular belief and condition on why and how things are the way they are, for everything is possible. This can be done stepby-step and release-by-release as in moving into the awareness of a more expansive dimension, like the fifth dimension. Or, we can stop in this moment and see our ultimate and true nature now. V I S I O N M AG A Z I N E

c u l t u r e It is helpful to realize that even if we are experiencing form in the much less dense fifth dimension, there can still be an experience of division from the Whole, from your True Self, in some way. All of form, no matter how refined, is inherently partial; this is duality. All form also inherently contains the Whole, because from the Whole is “where” it all manifests. If you are intrinsically drawn, realizing your Wholeness is available to you now. It simply requires letting go to a change of focus and following the callings of your higher self—the individuated “you” that is already in full illumination. Here, we point to the Wholeness in which all form (no matter how splendid) in all dimensions radiate from. At OurInspire, we speak of “the shift” or “transformation” or “awakening” as releasing our hyper focus on any particular form—on what is partial—and remind ourselves that we are not the things or the experiences we have, but we are that which the things and experiences are born from and die back into. We release the illusory need to grasp, to pull and tug, to act from the belief that if we do not have, or do not do, or do not possess, that we are-not. This release, this remembrance, brings great relief, for it is infinitely easier to act in accordance with True Self, which, without fi xed beliefs, is filled with joy and wonder, than to react out of a false sense of beliefs and conditions. The “shift” spoken of here releases our conditioned fears of death because we no longer identify with conditions or with form, whether it is of the third, fifth, or eleventh dimension. We see the non-permanence of all forms, including thought-forms and emotional-forms. Where there is individuation, there is division. Wonderfully we can discover, as we awaken to this spontaneous and natural shift and transition from old wornout ways and beliefs, is that we are that which holds all forms and that we have actually never left our abiding in the Absolute, in our True Selves—we are the “Shift”. This becomes clear as we naturally let go and fall into the realization and direct experience of our True Nature. continued on page 44

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december b y

forecast

A d r i e n n e

A b e y t a

Adrienne Abeyta presents a unique forecast blending the tarot with astrology. A gifted reader of intuitive arts, she offers private consultations and psychic entertainment for parties and events. AdrienneAbeyta.com. To set up an appointment, she can be reached at 619.917.0998 or Adrienne@AdrienneAbeyta.com. (See her ad at the bottom of the page)

Aries: Magician (Knight of Wands) 3/21-4/19 It’s time to take action and make the most of your talents. You’re in a favorable spot to manifest the reality of your dream. The potential has emerged, awaiting you to apply it. Be assertive with your mode of operation, and don’t be afraid to creatively manipulate a situation to your advantage. If you don’t seize this opportunity with determination, the window may close and you’ll be stuck on the outside looking in. Remain humble in your pursuit and remember: everyone plays an important role in your life, yet only you have the innate power and ability to control your destiny. Taurus: Emperor (9 of Swords) 4/20-5/21 Feelings of anxiety may cause you to feel out of sorts. While there may be nothing to substantiate this, it’s worth examining. Issues related to leadership and confidence are possible suspects. Whether you’re male or female, you could be struggling with how to express these qualities. Take note of the power struggles you encounter. The challenge is to stand up for yourself without losing control or integrity. Don’t make excuses about being afraid to hurt others’ feelings when what you really fear is your own anger. Take responsibility for your actions and be decisive. You must believe in yourself before others will believe in you. Gemini: Sun (7 of Swords) 5/22 – 6/21 The clouds of doubt begin to clear as you glimpse a shimmer of happiness. Allow this to radiate through your being and burn away excess stress. Life should begin to look brighter. That’s not to say that your problem will magically disappear, but you will begin to understand and accept the deeper meaning of what’s been happening. Issues from the past must be let go of, especially if you want peace and contentment. This release requires forgiveness of others and yourself. So let your love shine through and lead you out of the dark, into a new day. Cancer: Chariot (7 of Wands) 6/22 – 7/22 Your willpower will be tested this month. It’s imperative that you gain control before reacting to any situation. Something you recently shared may not elicit the response you had hoped. Instead of arguing or running away, prove your strength by showing them your determination. Stick to your convictions and remain composed; this shows integrity, no matter what happens. Victory lies more in the manner in which you conduct yourself than in the actual outcome. Keep in mind that behavior can communicate as much as language can. What are your actions saying? Leo: Star (3 of Pentacles) 7/23 – 8/23 Make a wish, because your plans will soon take form. If you’ve been out of touch with your faith or have forgotten what your purpose is, take a moment to re-imagine your vision. Ask yourself what it is that you love or what makes you happiest. Find your Dharma and infuse the seemingly mundane parts of your life with it. A sense of purpose makes anything you do meaningful. Share your splendor with others; as you rekindle your own light, you inspire others to shine theirs. Don’t be afraid to ask for help. People you know want to lend support. Virgo: Justice (Ace of Cups) 8/24 – 9/22 A current emotional experience in your life requires an unemotional sorting out. Although you may be feeling overwhelmed at the moment, getting an objective perspective—perhaps by asking a friend—can help you understand your situation better. Although it is wise to follow your heart, be cautious not to be taken over by sentiment. To determine the most appropriate course of action, you need a balance of mind and heart. If you’re just beginning a relationship, the standards you set at the start will dictate the theme of your time together. Notice how people treat you when you respect yourself.

Libra: World (8 of Swords) 9/23 – 10/23 This month you’ll find resolution to some conflicting aspects in your life. The feeling of being trapped that has kept you from accomplishing your goals is nothing more than fear of making a decision and the potential consequences of such a decision. This inertia is precisely the cause of the dilemma. Once you face your fears, confidence in yourself will lead you to fulfillment. Then, no matter what the results, you’ll be grounded in a sense of purpose. You will experience inner healing when you resolve the conflicts you create for yourself. Frustration is merely the aversion of opposition. Scorpio: Empress (7 of Pentacles) 10/24 – 11/22 Security issues become more prevalent this month as you begin to feel that nothing is getting better. Pause and think about what it is you really want. Perhaps you’re afraid that you’ll lose what you have by taking a step in a different direction. This is normal! When you outgrow a phase in life, it’s simply time for another one—like the seasons, positions, places, and faces in life which constantly change. Instead of making excuses or putting off the inevitable change, trust your creative urges; they will show you what to do next. Sagittarius: Judgment (10 of Wands) 11/23 – 12/21 Feeling completely overwhelmed and oppressed by either doing too much or doing things the hard way is challenging you to make an honest appraisal of your past actions and mistakes. This wake-up call is your redemption. Renounce feelings of guilt or sorrow, because it’s essential to make peace and create space to channel this pent-up energy more effectively. For those who feel inhibited or unable to make a move, it’s important to realize where you may have betrayed yourself. Understanding this will help you clarify your next steps. Capricorn: Fool (5 of Wands) 12/22– 1/20 This month, anything’s possible when you trust the unknown and your ability to take risks. Even if you’re struggling, you must look at obstacles as stepping stones instead of boulders. Although it may seem like your ideas and deeds are met with strife and complications, it’s only a temporary hindrance. The purpose of seeing this through is to adopt patience and flexibility while continuing to entertain the integrity of your vision. You are known to be a strategically oriented person, but try letting loose and being spontaneous. Follow your instincts and take that leap into the unknown! Aquarius: Devil (5 of Cups) 1/21 – 2/18 Your negative feelings, whether conscious or not, are sending the wrong message to others. There’s a factor you’re choosing not to see, or perhaps being too blasé about. Emotions of loss or guilt about something may be the cause. These feeling have you chained to a negative outlook, causing things to appear worse than they really are. Within every loss there’s a lesson; yet, in order to realize this, you must completely shift your paradigm and let go of these destructive feelings. New possibilities are available as long as you don’t resist change. Pisces: Hermit (Page of Swords) 2/19 – 3/20 You may need to withdraw a little this month to analyze yourself more closely—reflection without distraction. This type of contemplation restores the actual nature of your character. By quieting the noises outside, you can become more aware of the voice inside you. Perhaps you will learn a thing or two. As the age-old proverb advises: Accept the things you cannot change, the courage to change the things that you can, and the wisdom to know the difference. Remember that this is about what YOU think and feel, so don’t listen to what anyone else has to say.

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• What is my purpose • What is the lesson of this challenge • When will my life look different • Where do I go from here Contact Adrienne for consultations, events, and private lessons.

AdrienneAbeyta.com • (619) 917-0998 V I S I O N M AG A Z I N E

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Da i ly P rac t ic e by Michael Nobleza

“B

ad news, son…I have a brain tumor.” You would think that nothing prepares you for the moment when it feels like the world just falls out from under your feet. Yet, in that surreal moment, I greeted my father’s news with calm and clarity. What made the difference in a moment that would have otherwise devastated me is my Daily Practice. Years of practicing deep breathing, sitting meditation, chi kung, and yoga every day equipped me to be fully present to all of the emotions that came up for me in that challenging moment and to stand in a solid place to support my father in confronting this circumstance. What is Practice? For most, the term invokes an action or set of actions that one performs repeatedly in order to become good at something. It is often seen as a means to an end or as a path to mastery of some kind of discipline. As such, many view Practice as work to which we must drag ourselves, as the pain we must experience to gain greater health, excellence in sport, proficiency in music, etc. Yet, Practice isn’t just something to do in order to get to some other level of performance in life. Daily Practice is a way of living. It structures our life in a way that is aligned with our life’s purpose and values. Daily Practice sets us up to truly enjoy every bit of our life experience by slowing us down enough to be with the present moment. Having said all this, Daily Practice doesn’t have to be some elaborate esoteric ritual involving props. It doesn’t have to be some obligation one dreads every time he or she thinks of it. Daily Practice can be something as simple as taking three deep breaths and giving thanks for another day when you first wake up in the morning. One of my friends has a regular practice of yoga and meditation. Another has a practice of writing in the morning. Another friend has a practice of swimming laps to decompress after work. They all have a Daily Practice that is theirs and which nourishes them. So how do I go about building a Practice that I can maintain through the ups and downs of life? First, we need to let go of the idea that there is a right or wrong way to Practice. Practice is personal, so we should give ourselves permission to see what works for us, what will support and nurture us, and what will cause us to stretch and grow. Second, Practice should be something we can do with consistency. The activities that constitute our Daily Practice should be done around the same time of the day. One might think that this makes the Practice too rigid. Yet, a consistent Daily Practice establishes a natural rhythm on which you can rely day in and day out. This is especially important when life throws you the inevitable curveball, like it did with my father’s situation. Daily Practice should also stay fresh. Consistency provides reliable structure for our Daily Practice. However, it can also run the risk of becoming a boring routine. The entire point of Daily Practice is to help us greet each moment of our lives with newness. If our Daily Practice starts feeling like a burden or “have to,” then it’s time to change things up. Practice should be holistic. We are multidimensional beings. We have a physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual body. Be it a daily lunchtime walk or saying grace before every meal, our Practice should add up to address the needs of the whole person. We should take an inventory of all of our regular activities to assess whether or not they feed the needs of each of these different bodies. Finally, Practice should be something we love. This seems like an obvious principle. Yet, I can recall a number of times I’ve tried to incorporate something into my Daily Practice that I didn’t like. If we don’t like something, then we’re less V I S I O N M AG A Z I N E

c u l t u r e likely to stick with it. Daily Practice should open us up to life and anchor us. Many people to whom I have provided coaching around their Practice complain that one of the challenges to a new practice has been inertia. We find plenty of reasons to not engage in our Daily Practice because we’re too tired or might be getting sick, we’ve got to worry about childcare issues, we don’t have enough time, etc. One of my spiritual partners gave me great advice: All Practice takes is showing up; the rest of it handles itself. When we take that first step towards our Daily Practice, life seems to pick up the rest and give us exactly what we need to get through and reap the fruits of Practice. This is the value of Daily Practice in the context of community. Engaging my Practice in community, e.g. going to a yoga or dance class, puts me in a space where I am not just accountable to myself, but also accountable to my community. Community Practice is also a unique way to deepen my Practice, as I put into action my spiritual insights and principles in the crucible of my relationships with others in my community. By immersing myself in a supportive environment, I am able to have aspects of myself reflected back to me, allowing me to experience myself through the eyes of others. A daily, personal Practice is essential for its own sake. It roots us in what is most important to us and allows us to live out our most-cherished principles and commitments in the world. A sustainable Daily Practice that stretches us to new places supports us in literally rewiring our minds, bodies, and souls, transforming us into newer, more evolved versions of ourselves. Then, one day, by doing Practice daily for its own sake, we wake up to discover that the world looks different, because we are seeing it through new eyes. Michael Nobleza is a human relations/organizational development consultant and writer based in Oakland, CA. He is committed to building Peace, Wholeness, and Balance in the world through empowerment of each and every individual. He writes regularly for his blog, www.createmiracles.wordpress.com.

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Transforming

America’s

Eating Habits

compiled by Weight Watchers Public Relations

he new era of Weight Watchers® is here. The world-renowned leader in weight management has announced that it is retiring its popular POINTS® program and introducing its successor, PointsPlus. It will be launched on November 28 in Weight Watchers meeting rooms in the United States and on November 29 on Weight Watchers Online. The biggest innovation from Weight Watchers in 13 years, PointsPlus uses the latest scientific research to guide people towards making smart, healthy, and satisfying choices to lose weight. While calorie counting has been the foundation of many weight loss programs, including the Weight Watchers POINTS System, the NEW PointsPlus program

goes beyond just calories, to make healthful, satisfying, and easy choices. The new program takes into account all the components that make up calories—protein, carbohydrates, fat, and fiber—and factors in the conversion cost of processing foods within the body as well as eating satisfaction. Foods that are low in energy density, and therefore highly satisfying, are emphasized within the program. Specifically, all fresh fruits and most vegetables now have zero PointsPlus values. Power Foods, an element of the new PointsPlus program, provide an easy way to identify the best food choices between similar foods with the highest eating satisfaction, lower sugar, healthier fat, and more fiber. These new program features, combined with physical activity, behavior modification, and group support, have been the foundation of the Weight Watchers approach since its inception, making PointsPlus the most revolutionary and innovative program the company has ever offered. “Our new PointsPlus program is based on the latest scientific research and is designed to guide people to foods that are nutrient-dense and highly satisfying, ensuring they will make healthful decisions, have successful weight loss and keep their weight off long-term,” said Karen Miller-Kovach, Chief Scientific Officer of Weight Watchers International, Inc. “Research shows that after following the Weight Watchers program, we’ve seen improvements in healthy eating habits, successful weight loss, and even changes in peoples’ innate response to hunger and food, ultimately aiding in long-term weight loss success.” A recent study found that, after 12 weeks on the Weight Watchers program, study participants showed significant improvements on ratings of hedonistic hunger—the desire to eat without a biological need—a change that was linked to weight loss success. Overall, more than 60 publications and presentations support the Weight Watchers approach to weight loss and long-term health. “We are confident that PointsPlus is the best program Weight Watchers has ever offered, not only to help Americans lose weight and make smarter food choices, but also to combat the nation’s growing obesity epidemic,” said David Kirchhoff, President and CEO of Weight Watchers. “We are changing the way Americans view calories and select their food. Our new PointsPlus program will not only deliver weight loss success, it will also transform America’s eating habits and the way we make our food choices.” ABOUT WEIGHT WATCHERS Weight Watchers International, Inc. is the world’s leading provider of weight management services, operating globally through a network of company-owned and franchise operations. Weight Watchers holds almost 50,000 meetings each week, where members receive group support and learn about healthy eating patterns, behavior modification, and physical activity.

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WeightWatchers.com provides innovative, subscription weight management products over the Internet and is the leading Internet-based weight management provider in the world. In addition, Weight Watchers offers a wide range of products, publications, and programs for those interested in weight loss and weight control. PHILOSOPHY Our philosophy is that a healthy body results from a healthy lifestyle, which means mental, emotional, and physical health. Weight Watchers does not tell you what you can or can’t eat. We provide information, knowledge, tools, and motivation to help you make the decisions that are right for you about nutrition. We help you to make healthy eating decisions, and we encourage you to enjoy yourself by becoming more active. Weight Watchers meetings provide motivation, mutual support, encouragement, and instruction from our Leaders. Meeting members who have achieved their weight-loss goals and maintained them often become meeting Leaders and Receptionists, sharing the story of their personal success with others. At Weight Watchers, weight management is a partnership that combines our knowledge with your efforts. We help you on your journey by helping you make the positive changes required to lose weight, guiding you to make positive behavioral changes in your life, inspiring you with our belief in your power to succeed, and motivating you every step of the way. THE FOUR PILLARS OF A SCIENCE-BASED APPROACH There are four principles from which Weight Watchers will not waiver: healthy weight loss; a program that fits into your life; providing you with informed choices; and a holistic view of weight loss and overall health. First, any approach developed by Weight Watchers must provide healthy weight loss, which means producing a rate of weight loss of up to two pounds per week (after the first 3 weeks, during which losses may be greater due to water loss). In addition, we guide you towards choices that not only reduce calories, but also meet current scientific recommendations for nutritional completeness and reduced disease risk. We construct an activity plan that provides the full range of weight and health-related benefits that exercise offers. We also believe in sustainability; healthy weight loss is weight loss that lasts, so it is necessary to look beyond losing the excess weight and address keeping it off. Second, any Weight Watchers approach must be realistic, practical, and livable, which means it must be flexible so that people can apply the approaches that work well for them. That means encouraging the achievement of realistic goals. For example, we do not recommend that a person with a lot of weight to lose should begin with a weight-loss goal that defines “ultimate success.” Rather, we start with our “5 percent goal” or losing 5 percent of body weight, which can translate into V I S I O N M AG A Z I N E

a r t s

health benefits. Pacing weight loss and following a system that encourages food and activity choices that are livable and sustainable in the real world is key. Weight Watchers is designed on the premise that weight management needs to fit into your life, not be your life. Third, Weight Watchers believes in imparting knowledge. At Weight Watchers, people learn not only what to do, but why. This knowledge brings understanding, and with understanding comes the confidence needed to make informed choices and live by them. Finally, the Weight Watchers approach must be comprehensive. Sustained weight loss comes from taking a holistic view of all its components—food, exercise, behavior, and a supportive atmosphere. Compiled by Weight Watchers Public Relations. For more information on their new PointsPlus program, please visit weightwatchers.com.

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Master Zhou and the Incredible Energy of

Fire Chi Gong by Azrael

ome people say that when the student is ready, the master appears. In the world of Chi Gong, the Master has appeared in Southern California. Master Zhou Ting-Jue is a Chi Gong master who was born in 1934 in China. At the age of seven, he began learning martial arts and traditional Chinese medical theory under the guidance of his uncle, a Taoist priest. He often secluded himself at Wu Dang Mountain, in the temple of his uncle’s sect, for advanced studies. There, he cultivated the discipline of Chi Gong and developed a growing understanding of the true meaning and potentials of A.I. and its relationship to life and the universe. His mentors included many famous Chinese Chi Gong masters who passed on to him their personal knowledge about the mysterious power of Chi Gong. Master Zhou traveled throughout China teaching Chi Gong, treating patients, and demonstrating his unusual skills in the martial arts. His reputation spread to all parts of the country. He is highly respected and honored in China and has been called a “Treasure of the Nation.” Now Master Zhou is in the United States. He has two schools in the Los Angeles area and is looking to open a third school in San Diego. I first heard about Master Zhou through Drunvalo Melchizedek, the author of “The Flower of Life.” Drunvalo described how Master Zhou used his own Chi to perform amazing feats—feats that if you did not see with your own eyes, you might not believe. In Paul Dong’s book, “China’s Super Psychics,” Mr. Dong describes people with amazing, super human abilities that were harnessed from their Chi—people like Master Zhou. Master Zhou was even featured on “Ripley’s Believe it or Not,” emitting high heat (over 200 degrees Fahrenheit) from his hands. He has said that it was a demonstration of the power of Chi—so that people could see it—because Chi is normally invisible. People are not only entertained by this demonstration, but it also enables them to see and therefore believe. According to traditional Chinese medical theory, every human body is a dynamic, self-contained system that is in constant interaction with the universe. “Chi” (or “Qi”) means exercising and adjusting. Chi, the inner energy, or power, maintains its internal and external equilibrium by moving or “orbiting” inside and outside the body. Master Zhou believes that when the body’s Chi is moving properly and the bodysystem is in inner and outer balance, in a state of homeostasis, a person is healthy. Diseases and disorders occur when this inner energy is in stasis or still. Thus, Chi Gong involves working directly with a person’s life force to improve health. The practice of Chi Gong (which has occurred in China for centuries) helps to enhance the orbiting and the movement of this inner energy, thereby bringing balance to the body. This is V I S I O N M AG A Z I N E

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h e a l i n g an optimal state that leads to the cure of disease and an increased sense of well-being. Master Zhou is 76 years old, but when you meet him, you would never guess his age, as he is the epitome of health and balance. In his studio, there are pictures of famous people all around him: the Imperial family of China; the Dalai Lama; Hollywood actors; and politicians. When he was last in Tibet, 4,000 people came to his workshop. All of these people want to be near him or learn from him, but he is one of the most humble men you will ever meet. I first met Master Zhou in Los Angeles for a healing session. His hands were fire incarnate! I felt so much heat on my skin that I was initially afraid. But as the session progressed, my fears subsided into trust and peace. The warmth on my skin permeated through my whole body, grounding and balancing me. I experienced first hand the amazing heat that emanates from his hands. If I didn’t see and feel it myself, I would not have believed it. I went to him for a lower back injury, and after one session, I experienced such relief in my back that it was as if my condition never existed. I wanted to learn more from this amazing person, so I began to study the ancient system of Chi Gong with Master Zhou. During the practices, I would feel immense levels of energy running through my body, like rushing water in river rapids. The sensations are oftentimes indescribable and are unique for each person. But with each practice session or healing session, the sensations of Chi through my body became more and more dense. It was like being in a deep, deep sleep where all of your limbs are numb, and the prickling, tingling sensations awaken every part of you. Master Zhou is a modern day alchemist who holds the ancient secrets of the Taoist priests and the Wu Dang Monastery. He has made himself readily available to teach any willing students and aid them in achieving their greatest desires in the world of Chi Gong. Master Zhou has numerous stories about the people he has helped through his Chi Gong practices. Once, he shared with me a story of a person who had a tumor in his head. This person was not expected to live much longer, but Master Zhou said that he used his Chi to make the tumor disappear. It was 16 years ago that Master Zhou met with this person, and he is alive and well today. His goal is to help spread the art of Chi Gong to everyone in the world. He travels to many places and sees many people who need Chi Gong because of the lack of exercise and lack of energy in modern society. Master Zhou believes that by practicing Chi Gong, a person can promote health, prevent disease, and even enhance beauty and delay aging. Chi Gong, by adjusting respiration, relaxing muscles and mind, and promoting circulation, produces benefits that are certain to increase a person’s quality of life. In its advanced levels, Chi Gong can even help people bring forth and develop various special abilities, such as seen on “Ripley’s” with Master Zhou. China was known for having the world’s largest non-medical hospital that relied only on the powers of Chi Gong for its patients. According to Gregg Braden, a visionary author who brings together science and spirituality, there are significant statistics that prove the power of Chi Gong to heal oneself. Can classical science explain all the miraculous abilities of the human body? Perhaps, or perhaps not. But Master Zhou is a living example of true human potential. We are so fortunate to have him here in America, ready and willing to share the ancient secrets of Chi Gong to all who are interested in awakening their abilities and living a healthy, happy, and prosperous life. The Chi Gong Revolution is now and is yours for the taking. Azrael is a member of Conscious Awakenings University. For more information on the university, please visit www.consciousawakeningsuniversity.com. To learn about Master Zhou and his Fire Chi Gong workshops, please contact Azrael at 951.249.0961 or 888.945.7444, or visit www.firechigong.com. V I S I O N M AG A Z I N E

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A Resource for Mind, Body, and Spirit

by Sydney L. Murray

e live in a world that is evolving quickly in terms of media and personal media devices. Oasis TV is the premier global Body, Mind, Spirit programming service on all media platforms. Its mission is to help make the world a happier, healthier, and more peaceful planet by delivering entertaining and inspiring content, from holistic health and spirituality to cuttingedge technologies and entertainment. Gerald Levin is a media pioneer, and Vision Magazine was fortunate to speak with him. Starting in 1972, Levin pioneered the creation of HBO and helped develop the modern cable industry. From 1992 through 2002, he served as Chairman/CEO of the media conglomerate Time Warner. In addition to his role at Oasis TV, Levin is currently the Presiding Director of Moonview Sanctuary, a holistic mental health institute in Santa Monica, California, and a partner in Connectivity, a consultancy devoted to helping entrepreneurs and start-ups. Vision Magazine: How do you see Oasis TV affecting people’s lives? Gerald Levin: I think that is the value of having a service that is available on lots of platforms. Taking advantage of digital distribution, mobile distribution, as well as television, cable, and satellite, is to be able to dig in and answer questions or attend events remotely by video that speak to your daily life and what’s important in terms of mindfulness, health, and spirituality. To have access to something that might be taking place around the world, but I can bring it through the instrument of new media, I think is a great thing. VM: How do you see the role of new media changing our society? GL: What is admirable about Oasis TV is that instead of becoming a traditional network, whether that is the old broadcast TV system or a regular channel on multiplex cable, the intention is to serve every form of digital distribution, and it is developing so quickly with social media and mobile applications. Through the iPhone or Android or the iPad, people will be moving away from their desktops into getting information and transacting as they go about their daily lives. I think this is a terrific turn that the Internet is taking, and Oasis TV is ready to ride that wave because it’s not just starting a channel; it’s a multi-platform service that will enlighten people with what is going on—news, events, seminars, and workshops in the area of holistic healing. VM: Where is visual media, in your opinion, headed? GL: It will always be true that the best way to tell a story is not only with words, but also through visual images and basically sight and sound. The fact that citizens as well as professionals can now distribute video, short form and long form worldwide is a tribute to the power of both the Internet and the distribution of video digitally. So, I think it is, has been, [and] will continue to become the V I S I O N M AG A Z I N E

media of interaction, that is the operative word now, the interactive video. It can bring people closer together when they don’t have the ability to physically be somewhere. VM: With Oasis TV, how do you see it specifically benefiting people from the different multiple platform deliveries? GL: Part of the vision that Robert Schnitzer [founder and CEO] has is to make Oasis TV the premiere place where you can find out what resources are available, where events are taking place, and what discoveries have been made in the area of wellness and spirituality and the interplay between the body, mind, and spirit. So it really is a resource [that is] easily accessible [for people] to deal with what everybody confronts—their personal growth, natural health, their relationships, taking care of the environment, connecting people one to another, where it is happening, who are the leaders bringing those people through the network and digital channel, so that instead of speaking to a group, their expertise will be available to everyone, and Oasis TV can be the mediator for that. VM: How did you come to create Moonview with your wife? GL: I have to give my wife 100 percent of the credit. This was her belief and her vision. She started out in the entertainment business as a talent agent and a movie producer. With the death of her mother, she had a transformational experience, went back and got her doctorate in clinical psychology, and then had the vision. Right after that as she went into practice, [she opened] up a holistic mental health institute that would draw upon the mental health pain with not only traditional expertise and professionals, but also a big dollop of spirituality and a belief in wanting to heal people. Particularly in individuals who may have taken a tumble. So I came along as she was developing this vision and helped her with it, but it is clearly hers. Probably the best part about it is that we fell in love and got married. VM: Can you tell me a little bit about her book, “God, the Universe, and Where I Fit In”? GL: Her book is a memoir, which not only details the trajectory and journey of her life, but also illustrates with humor a lot of the intuitive experiences she had, which led her to a belief in life after death and that we are all protected and guided. So it is a message of hope and connection, but it also is a very profound book dealing with something that everyone can relate to, that is, where do you fit in and what is your purpose, and a very inspiring view of life after life. VM: What would be the most important daily practice that you have right now? GL: I think it is meditation, something that in the midst of a very active and aggressive business life I didn’t take time to do. We meditate every morning and

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every evening, before we get up and before we go to sleep. It is an important touchstone to getting in touch with deeper resources and understanding your role and your purpose. It also is more than just a spiritual exercise because it informs your entire day abouteverything that is happening. If you take the time to pause and consult your higher self, which is what my wife teaches, you will probably make better decisions and also be congruent with what is right for you as a individual and as a person connected with everyone else. VM: What were some of the important teachers that you have had in your life or that currently affect you? GL: Again, I have to start with my wife who really brought her belief system to me, which gave me peace and resolution and understanding for daily practice. In my business life I have been fortunate. I started out at a very early age working with a man named David Lilienthal, who was a major person in the Roosevelt administration, around the atomic energy commission. I worked with him in a company [in which] we trained Peace Corps volunteers and did work around the world for economic development. His philosophy was twofold, one that management is a humanist art, which I thought was in the rough and tumble of business a very important message, and he also believed that companies should operate not only in the interest of shareholders but in the public’s interest. That is something that I tried to carry over into most of what I did. VM: What would you want your legacy to be? GL: I have difficulty with legacy; yet if you asked me how I would like to make an impact, it would be simply to help put my life’s experience at the service of others so that there may be something that will help them, resonate with them. [In] my family we have a lot of teachers and I have lost a son. He was a teacher in the South Bronx and the quote that is on his tombstone is one that resonates with our entire family: “To teach is to touch a life forever.” So, some factor of being of service and teaching others is the way I would like to practice my daily life and be remembered. VM: Where do you believe new media will be in five years? GL: I think TV and Internet will come together more dramatically than some of the efforts now. So that what we use to call TV programming and the videos and the searchable material that is on the internet right now will all be indivisible and available on every instrument that we can think of, so at home and at work and most particularly on a mobile basis. VM: How do you think that is affecting people? Is it a negative? GL: These are arguments that we heard in the early days of TV, that somehow people, the heart, and the home becomes a screen. We are losing personal touch, either with ourselves and/or others. It is an understandable comment, but if you look at not only the under 30’s, but [also] the under 10’s and the under 5’s and how they are being raised now so that they still get a mothers touch, they still play, but they’re introduced into technology not as an interference in their lives but as a facilitator. I worry less about [the idea that] it’s desensitizing our connection to one another and believe more powerfully that it will bring the world together. It is such a metaphor, the notion that someone who’s 5 years old can put a video up on YouTube and it will go around the world. It is actually a beautiful metaphor. No central control, this Internet is available to anybody, at anytime and it is basically worldwide. VM: How do you think each one of us could live a more fulfilled life? GL: I think it is a matter of paying attention to ourselves and the world around V I S I O N M AG A Z I N E

f e a t u r e us and the people that we love, and to love everybody. There is this sustainable movement for the environment; we should have a sustainable movement for each of us. If we worry about the ecological system—our bodies contain the most magnificent ecosystem every realized—with the care of that ecosystem, the nutrition, what’s circulating in our minds, the interaction between mind, body, and spirit, and the prescription for a really healthy life is right in front of us. It’s a spiritual understanding of who we are, what our purpose is, living a life of love, feeling protected and guided, eating the right things, taking care of our bodies, and somehow understanding the deeper meaning of life, so that the normal stresses—which cause all these physical and emotional negative reactions—we can somehow deal with. To understand that sleep is important, that [it] is a time where spiritual activity can actually take place and to get a sense of personal fulfillment, rather than all the little things that seem to nag and push us. To live above all that with a sense of love and light. VM: Where do you see our global community headed? GL: We appear to be living in a very dramatic time with clashes of cultures, violence, and terrorism. I honestly believe that we are going to get through that and that there will be a transformation and an understanding that we are all the same we are all connected. We have an obligation to Mother Earth. I will give you an example of something I witnessed earlier this week. On Monday there was a press conference [about] an organization called The Art of Peace where Sheriff Baca and Chief of Police Beck collected 1000 guns from gangs in LA. [The guns] were melted down and turned over to a woman named Lin Evola, who is a sculptress, to make the shards from these guns into a peace angel. At the end of the conference they played John Lennon’s, “Imagine.” We have to go through this dark period to get to the year of light. VM: How do you see Oasis TV growing over the next three to five years? GL: It has to go through the normal process of getting financed to be able to expand and have a 24-hour format and be able to get broad distribution. I see it occupying a unique position that isn’t otherwise available. It is an interesting phenomenon that there really isn’t any 24-hour sustained source for mind, body, spirit activities where things are happening, what’s new in life practices. There are lots of sources, but there isn’t a source that is determined, and this is Robert Schnitzer’s vision—to take advantage of all the platforms that are reaching people now and deliver that content. It is most needed when things are tough. To have a service showing you what resources are available—that is really helpful. What has been very helpful for me is to work here at Moonview, where there really is a belief in the importance of the interaction between mind, body, and spirit and to combine with traditional therapies, a lot of ancient wisdom, and a spiritual take on some of the things that are characterized as mental disorders or issues of addiction or depression—that, in fact, you can get underneath those and help people find their spiritual center. We do all forms of psychology. We have digital technology; we do bio and neuro feedback on a very advanced basis. There [are] also a lot of spiritual and holistic practices as well. It really is an attempt to bridge Western and Eastern practices and ancient and modern technology—to bring all of that together. Gerald Levin is Senior Advisor and Chairman of Oasis TV as well as the Presiding Director of Moonview Sanctuary, a holistic mental health institution in Santa Monica, CA. www.moonviewsanctuary.com. For more information on Oasis TV, please visit www.oasistv.com or e-mail info@OasisTV.com.

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berate our“We cannot li dead-end selves from a not quesn story that we ca at ‘New h w tion. That’s d ’ does : it Self, New Worl tions to ues brings fresh q ure’s stolt bear on our cu collateral e ry, exposing th mes with co t damage tha heads and living in our model of yielding a new ess that usn human conscio body into d brings mind an Shepherd ilip balance.” —Ph

Why We Need to Radically Reinvent Ourselves: A Conversation with Philip Shepherd, Author of “New Self, New World” by Sydney L. Murray

hepherd’s new book “New Self, New World,” is full of intellectual debate, thought, and musings along with very practical exercises at the end of each chapter to integrate the body and mind. Shepherd describes them as a “full body exercise that guides the reader into an understanding of what it means to be whole.” According to Shepherd, freedom, creativity, and presence are integral in a well-lived life. Recently I had the opportunity to speak with him.

Vision Magazine: What does the term ‘daily living’ mean to you? Philip Shepherd: It means two things to me. It carries a danger and it carries a very luminous possibility. The danger for me is the staleness factor, because we fall into patterns that deaden us day after day to the world. That is just something that happens in our minds. The reality is the world is nothing but newness. Then the question becomes how to live from day to day with sensitivity and an appreciation to that newness. The staleness is never a characteristic of the world; it is always a characteristic of the body. We tend to retreat from the sensitivity of the body into our heads to the point where we feel and attend to our own thinking and our own ideas more than we feel the present. I know people can get into a state where 80 to 90 percent of the time what they are really paying attention to is their idea of the world rather than the world itself. An idea is a static, bundle of energy. It is trapped and can only eventually fill us until it yields a new idea. The body is an infinite reservoir that is tapped into all the currents of life that swim around us. VM: In your book you talk about the disconnect between the mind and body, as well as the female and male mind. Can you please elaborate? PS: One of the most striking images I found in my research was the ancient Mayan concept of what it meant to be human. For them, humans are created with two skulls. There is the skull that contains the brain and then there is the pelvic bowl. There was a time when the goddess fell and the gods took over, between the early Neolithic and the Greek transition. That transition was not one of idea; it’s one that actually carried us from an experiential center in the belly. Up to the time of the ancient Greeks it was in the chest. The Greeks had a word [Freon] that means “mind,” but it also means “diaphragm,” where they experience their thinking. Finally, by the time of Plato, we were in our heads. That transition to the belly centered intelligence up to the head. Centered consciousness is a transition from the female to the male aspect of our consciousness. I differentiate between them by saying the intelligence in the belly is where we can consciously be, and the brain and the head is where we can consciously think. What happened is that we have detached our thinking, not just from our body, but because our body is our bridge to the world, we have detached it from the world. That is why we walk around in our daily lives paying attention to our ideas of the world and neglecting the world itself. VM: What would be the new model of living that is offered in your new book, “New Self, New World”? V I S I O N M AG A Z I N E

PS: I would say the whole aspect of it begins with recognition that we are not unipolar thinkers. Because we believe our intelligence is trapped, we constrain our experience to conform to that idea. Each of us is born with two brains (there is a second brain in the belly). Our consciousness as humans is designed as an exchange between these two aspects of our consciousness. So, the core message of the book, in terms of how to reinvent ourselves, is one that overcomes the paradigm we are stuck on that our consciousness is locked in the brain. Instead of a unipolar consciousness, it is the consciousness that courses between these two aspects of our body consciousness. VM: What do you think has gone wrong in our society? PS: I hesitate to call it wrong, because I think it is a necessary part of our evolution. In the Paleolithic and the early Neolithic [periods] we were entirely matrifocal. We were centered on the mother, on the female aspect of our consciousness. What happened over the past 10,000 years is that we have moved up through the body into the head and devoted ourselves to male values, male agendas, and male ways of perceiving the world. If we continue along that path it will doom us all, it will doom us as individuals, and it will stunt what we are capable of. We cannot act in the world around us, even in our day to day living, in a way that brings balance and harmony without first finding that within ourselves. So that is why my book is called “New Self, New World”—it begins with an opening of the self. When I say an opening of the self, I mean it begins with the kind of work that allows you to overcome the divisions in the self that have basically been imposed by our Western culture by this male outlook, value, and perspective. VM: So, how do our two brains affect our lives? PS: If you are stuck in the head you will not be able to resolve what you experience into a whole. The male aspect of our consciousness looks at the bits and pieces of the world—it analyzes. It systemizes and finds relationships, but it cannot integrate. So, that loop of chatter you sometimes find yourself listening to in your own head—because it is dissociated from the ordinary world around us—has only itself to move through, so it will never come to rest because you are not at rest in the world. [In] contrast, the brain in the belly, that whole region, is one where we can consciously be, and being itself is something that accommodates the entire world around us. That is where integration happens. I talk about this is in my book that we have lost the ability to feel the self as a whole, let alone the world around us, so people can feel parts of themselves, they can feel their body, they can feel their thoughts, they can feel their skin, their emotional life. But to come to rest in the whirl of all that and feel the whole of who you are now in this moment, in this place—it is just something our culture systematically undermines. It basically communicates that there is no place for that because the head rules everything. VM: How would we uncover our true nature that you speak of? PS: It begins with the body. Once you recognize that our evolution has carried the center of our consciousness from the pelvic bowl up into the head, and once

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you see the consequences of that, then you can start to heal. In my book there is an exercise called the Elevator Shaft. It is just a matter of feeling the center of your consciousness in the head and allowing it to tangibly drop down through the body to come to rest on the pelvic floor. By doing that you are reversing this 10,000 year trend that our culture has gone through, and as you drop that center, you may feel it get stuck, unable to go further down in places. When that happens, you have found a gold mine because you have come face to face with a division within yourself, something that is keeping you from your full experience of being. If you pay attention to that and allow it to soften and melt, you will find that your consciousness can continue its journey down. Once you are able to allow your consciousness to rest on the pelvic floor, you will have entered a completely different way of being in the world. It’s a way of being that is calm, sensitized, clear, and is able to integrate whatever your day to day living may bring to your doorstep. VM: Why do you think our culture is so addicted to doing? PS: We believe there is redemption to be found in idea[s] and solutions. It’s an expression of a male aspect of our consciousness that has cut itself off from the female aspect. So, we think that life is a problem that we have to solve, and if we can get enough information and accumulate enough stuff, we can win at this thing called life. It is a really gross misunderstanding because despite the claims of science that everything can be explained, it’s simply not true. Even quantum physics has hit a point where the world lies so far beyond explanation that they [scientists] pretty much leave it alone. There’s an aspect that they have run up against which is called quantum vacuum, and matter arises spontaneously into being from the quantum vacuum and then disappears back into it. There is a deep mystery to life that doesn’t mystify; it reassures. That seems paradoxical, but the more you hang onto a solution, the less adequate it seems, in terms of solving your problems. The more you open to the mystery of the moment, the more you come into relationship with the whole world around you. VM: If there were one thing that people could do each day to change their life, what would it be? PS: I would say pause. What I mean is unexpectedly, for no reason at all and even when it seems most inopportune, just come to rest in the moment. If you can learn to do that, you will free yourself from the driving agenda that tends to capture our life. It is an opportunity to rest, and the deeper the stillness you can allow yourself to dive into, the more subtly you tune [into] the world around you. Just as a pond, when it is still, a tiny insect can land on it and the ripples tell you what is happening. If there were a breeze, you would never see it. That insect landing on the pond is something in our daily life that happens over and over, and it is the nourishment of life itself if only we were able to notice. That is where the stillness of our being resides. VM: How do people get beyond the attachments to their status in their lives? PS: We are all, to some extent, attached with an idea of ourselves. In my book, I call it the Known Self—it’s who you know yourself [as]. Once you recognize the consequences of that, you want something better for yourself. You have a choice at any moment: you can either be who you know yourself to be or you can be present. Once you find what it is to drop into the pelvic bowl, then [you find] the richness that waits for you there—the ease and the connection— [and] anything else seems impoverished by comparison. The other thing that happens is once you do drop into the pelvic bowl and connect with the world in that way, the world guides you. It asks something of you and it calls to you because you cannot drop into your wholeness as an individual without feeling the whole of the world that basically calls you into being. When that happens, there is an exchange that happens between you and the world [which] is what calls you to life and to engage and make a difference. VM: Is that the same thing that would reduce stress? PS: When you are doing something in a state of wholeness, there is an effortless quality to it and it is free of anxiety. By contrast, if you are doing things in a V I S I O N M AG A Z I N E

f e a t u r e divided state, you are fighting yourself in at least one way and probably in many ways. It is exhausting, anxiety-inducing, and it clouds the mind. When you live from the whole of yourself, you are living with the pure signal of your own being. VM: Do you believe that people in our society can change, understand this, and move toward this type of living? PS: Yes I do, because I have been changed. I think we all long to experience life. Joseph Campbell said one thing that really had an effect on me seven years ago. He said, “We all think we are searching for the meaning of life.” I don’t really think that we are. I think what we yearn for is the experience [of] being alive. I studied as an actor for many years and when I started, my voice teacher was telling me I should breathe with my sacrum. (The sacrum is that triangular bone at the base of the spine.) I can’t even feel the sacrum, [so] it was really hard to work through that. What happened was that ultimately it felt so much better to allow the breath to drop all the way down to the sacrum and

release out from there that I started to begrudge when it wasn’t happening. Now it is my natural way of being, because if I start to feel uncomfortable or edgy I know right away the breath hasn’t dropped into the body. I think that same principle applies with the dropping of the center of our consciousness down to make amends with the female aspect of our consciousness— the aspect of being. VM: Do you have hope for our society/world? PS: There are signs all around that people are recognizing the crisis into which we are marching. On the other side there are signs all around that people are stubbornly resisting. What is apparent to everyone else? I have to have hope because I love life and I have children and I know what this world continued on page 46

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Breathing Into Freedom: A Transformation Tool as Close as Your Own Breath

by James Anthony Ellis

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hen I was 7 years old, my ma used to spray my pillow at night with this heinous medicine to help alleviate the effects of my asthma. For years I had to live with not only the wheezing and the shortness of breath, but also that stinky pillow and a sister who complained about that medicine smell emanating from my room. As anyone with asthma can attest, life without the ability to breathe deeply can be a life of suffering: an inability to lay down flat, scavenging for that next intake of air. For anyone who knows about the full exchange of oxygen, or life-force, life can be a joy, a blessing, a celebration, and a blast! It’s what I have found since the days of childhood by embracing the process simply called “breathwork.” Though it has many valid forms and techniques—Transformational Breath, therapeutic breathwork, rebirthing—it all comes down to the same idea: As your breath goes, so your health goes. With breathwork, participants reinstate a full conscious and surrendered breath, and this fuller exchange of life-force, oxygen, or “prana” enlivens the cells, blood stream, circulatory system, mind, body, and spirit. The result is heightened vibrancy in the body, a lightness of the heart, a peaceful mind, and the transformation of an unresolved past into a harmonious present. With its origins in the ancient Indian practice of “pranayama,” breathwork, as defined by Breathe Magazine, “is a term covering various

focused breathing techniques. By freeing the breath one learns to breathe through difficult or uncomfortable experiences and feelings where the tendency has been to hold one’s breath.” Where would we be without our breath—that connection of inhale and exhale that brings us the gift of life? We can go weeks without water, longer without food, but only moments without oxygen. That connection to our life-force can be one of shallowness or fullness. It is our choice. Reflected in our breath, our life is both fulfilling and powerful or one diminished by fears, guilt, shame, grief, and anger. Have you noticed that our breath goes shallow when we face life’s greater challenges and fears? When we are afraid of a confrontation or we are faced with public speaking or a blind date, we may hold our breath without even thinking about it. Or when we are about to express sadness through the avenue of the tears. Many actually clench a fist or purse their lips so they can hold their breath and not allow the grief to flow. Why is that? What would be the purpose to stop the living energy that is naturally triggered and surfacing? Many of our kids have no issues expressing themselves, and can get through their emotions swiftly, crying one moment and laughing the next without concern about what has gone before. I have discovered, through 20 years of conversing and working with clients, that the blocking and pushing down of emotions and life-force energy comes from varied sources. One source is the consistent judgment from family members, school systems, and peers. Another is the unresolved experiences from the past, which create an expectation of future pain. There is also the belief that delving into the well of emotions will be too much to Encinitas handle with life’s everyday pressures and tasks. Finally, there is often an unfortunate lack of support and empathy required to access and Insurance Agency process such deep feelings and experiences. With breathwork, not only do participants receive a huge space (760) 942-5555 of safety where they can feel deeply and think freely in a nonjudgmental setting, but they are also coached to breathe deeply 148 N. El Camino Real through anything that may arise. And it’s this acceptance—this Encinitas meeting of all inner experiences with the powerful life-force in Scott@Allstate.com the breath—that allows for deep transformation. Transformation CA Lic: 0686321 also transpires because participants are taking dedicated time to go directly within, in a surrendered state, focusing singularly on their highest good. San Diego's only In one analogy I use with my groups, there is a ballplayer about Certified Green to go up to bat. The coach tells him to relax and take a nice deep breath. He does and feels better. That was one breath. Imagine what Insurance Agency it will be like to take such cleansing breaths for one hour. In an typical session (which can be done in a private or group setting), participants lay down on a mat, close their eyes, and take in deep, conscious, connected breaths in order to go deeply within. In this state—experienced over a one-hour time period with support from a facilitator—participants go directly into a higher state of awareness and return to a state of peace and relaxation. The actual technique I support is done all through an open mouth. The technique includes: a full and complete inhale; a surrendered exhale without any effort whatsoever; and a circular breath wherein © 2009 Allstate Insurance Company allstate.com participants continually circulate the breath without ever holding V I S I O N M AG A Z I N E

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I recall my first breathwork group session in October 1989. I was skeptical when I showed up at 10 a.m. at a large hall above the Wells Fargo building in UTC, carrying a pillow and a blanket. When all 60 of us laid down to do the process, I thought nothing would happen. Within 10 minutes of the surrendered breath, I was dealing with a tight feeling around my throat and a sadness about not expressing myself in my life. After it released—both the physical discomfort and the emotional tie—I felt so free. I recall driving home that night being able to sing to the radio at octave ranges I never imagined reaching. And the reason the simple process works? Sergei Gorsky, author of “The Tree

of Life,” notes these reasons: the process improves the carbon-oxygen exchange by increasing carbon dioxide levels by 20 to 30 percent; activates the body’s system of clearing toxicity by stimulating lymphatic flow; increases the theta and delta frequencies of the brain up to 200 percent; restores a healthier acid-alkaline balance to the body; and improves the immune system function. According to R. Christian Minson of Breathflow, “Conscious breathing amplifies the innate power within the natural breathing process. The breath is the unique gateway for all three dimensions of our being—physical, emotional and spiritual. On a physical level, we more efficiently process greater quantities of oxygen, our primary energy source. On an emotional level, we find that different emotions have different associated breath patterns; therefore, we use patterns that enhance feelings of well-being. And to see the spiritual connection we simply have to look at the origins of the word ‘spirit,’ coming from the Latin root spiritus which means ‘to breathe.’” And so breathe, we will. When we face the confrontation or that first date or that public presentation, we will remember. We will remember the power in accepting life with a complete full breath. We will remember the life-force and prana that animates our very being, keeping us vibrant and vital. And I will remember a little boy trying to lay flat, wheezing, annoyed at the medicine he had to take in, and desperately wanting to find that space to breathe deeply and live fully. James Anthony Ellis is a breathwork facilitator, writer, filmmaker, and producer living in San Diego, CA. With Legacy Productions, he is co-producing a worldwide extravaganza, 1000 Breaths: A Unique Fundraising Event to End Child Sex Exploitation. It will take place at 11 a.m. on December 31, 2010, at San Diego’s Scottish Rite Event Center in Mission Valley. This large-scale “breathwork” session will help fund the completion and dissemination of Indoctrinated, a documentary aimed at the prevention of child sex exploitation. To register for this event and view a promotional video of Indoctrinated, visit www.life-enlightenment.com/events.html.

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Yoga at the Village

by Shannon Nies am one of those people who often “forgets” to breathe, especially when I need to the most, for instance, during a two-hour advanced ballet class. After holding my breath at the barre, in the centre, and across the floor, I have transferred tension throughout my entire body. My movements become small, and I look like I’m just moving mechanically—not really dancing. So when I was asked to take a yoga class for a Vision Magazine article, I knew it would be a good opportunity to get out of my analytical mind and mechanical movements, and really breathe. About a week before Thanksgiving, I took a Strength/ Flexibility yoga class with Elyse Briggs, owner of Yoga at the Village in Glendale, CA. Elyse’s yoga class helped my stressed-out mind and body relax and forced me to breathe—slowly and deeply. Not only was I blessed to have this opportunity, but I was also able to speak with Elyse afterwards. Here is our all too brief conversation:

Vision Magazine: Why is yoga part of your daily living? Elyse Briggs: It keeps me from being a Type A personality all the time. I’ve made yoga part of my life over the past 30+ years because it helps me not be neurotic. Practicing yoga and all that that entails—the concentration and the breathing—gives me a home base.

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In addition to all of that, it definitely firms my body. I’m 57 years old [and] I really feel good. If something does hurt or I strain something, because of my anatomy and physiology background and because of my yoga training, I can fi x it. VM: Why did you start yoga? EB: I started practicing yoga when I was 19 because I was forced into it. I was in acting school and I was very competitive. I was into Type A ‘let me stay thin for the rest of my life’ kind of exercise. So when I was given the option in acting school in New York, my choices were fencing, judo, and yoga. Fencing and judo closed, and I was stuck in yoga. I thought, there’s no way I’m going to sit still and [chant] and burn incense. When I got into the class, the teacher was amazing. It wasn’t about ‘om-ing’ and burning incense, and it was quite challenging. I was very lucky to have a teacher who was not very ‘airy fairy’ at all. She had an anatomy and a physiology background, and she was an Iyengar trained teacher. I loved learning about my body, and I loved being challenged in one posture and fine-tuning it. VM: Could you talk a little about Yoga at the Village? EB: We’ve been here since 1999. It’s based on community and building community. We have an extremely mixed clientele. We have old Glendalians who have been here for years—for a hundred years. We have many Armenian students and clients, Korean, and African-American, and Glendale’s a little melting pot. It’s a safe place for people to come no matter who they are, what condition they are, any level of ability or disability. I’ve created a lot of community-based groups like theater groups, parent groups, and school groups, and I’m about creating healthy groups of people where they can come in and feel free to share what’s going on and know that they’ll be received well. About a year ago, one of the reporters [from LA Weekly] was in my class and [Yoga at the Village] just turned up in LA Weekly. It was voted ‘Best Non-Threatening Yoga Studio in Los Angeles.’ VM: What changes do you see in people who practice yoga? EB: There are substantial changes. Before somebody can heal physically, they have to want to, and yoga allows them the chance to want to. It gets them out of their daily activity, like in class tonight. I was talking about [the fact that] there’s no need to replay that horrible tape that you replayed in your head about what somebody said about you. You played it last night at dinner; why play it again now? Why play it again before you go to bed tonight? When you actually see somebody [breathe, connect, and be in the moment and] finally get it, you can see a visual change on their body. They just sort of let go where their expression all of a sudden melts and changes. Sometimes, when people are in backbends, there are tears. It contacts your worst fears. When you have a fear, where do you put it? Spiritually, you put it behind

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you. When there are tears, I just go over there and lay my hand on somebody’s back and say, “Good for you,” or “Let it go.” I can create the space where [people] can let go enough to cry. It strips you down to your core, comfortably, and it lets you be who you are. VM: What is yoga, really? EB: A loose translation is “the union of opposites.” So [it is] to bring together, for example, two extreme opposites: self-effort and surrender. Physically, when you’re talking about the central nervous system, you have the sympathetic nervous system—fightor-flight. If you’re in [the parasympathetic nervous system] too much, then you’re depressed. So yoga helps to bring together the two branches of the central nervous system so that you find a sense of balance. If you’re trying to balance on your foot and your eyes are closed, what else in your body has to kick in, in order to balance that? So we’re always striving to bring two opposite ends together. VM: Can you talk about the importance of breathing while practicing yoga? EB: The respiratory system, out of all the systems of the body, is the only system that we can physically control. We can control how slowly or how rapidly that we breathe. If we breathe rapidly all day and breathe through the chest, then what happens is the sympathetic reaction, which puts you in that fight-or-flight condition. If I were to breathe through my nose instead of puffing up the chest and making the breath really short, that would calm me down. That would place me in my parasympathetic nervous system. The best example of breathing is if you watch an infant in a crib, you’ll notice that their belly rises and falls. Their mouth isn’t open and they’re not breathing through their chest. It’s because nobody screwed them up yet. They have no reason to be afraid of anything. Before you go to bed tonight, right before you go to sleep, notice that your belly is taking over. Your belly is rising and falling; if it wasn’t, you would not sleep. You can’t because your entire central nervous system is overactive. VM: How do you incorporate yoga and breathing into your daily life? EB: Well, yoga translates into your outside world. You have two choices when you’re in a difficult spot, whether you’re in a yoga class, in traffic, or in an interview.

V I S I O N M AG A Z I N E

c a f e You can choose the sympathetic way out and say, I am so out of here. Or, your other choice would be to take a parasympathetic, deep belly breath, connect to your body, listen to the sound of your breath, and just see what you can do about making where you are a little more pleasant. I think that kind of breathing has kept me in a situation longer than I normally would have been. If I would have left with my sympathetic breath, then how do I know what I would have missed? Maybe a person would have walked in the door who would have changed my life. VM: At the end of the class, we were in a handsto-heart position. Could you describe that? EB: When you bring your palms to prayer at your heart, it’s anjali mudra, or “a gesture of offering.” It’s a very humble posture to be in. The word that we say at the end of yoga, after we set with our palms together in anjali mudra, is namaste. It translates to mean that “the divine in me honors the divine in you.” So whatever my belief system is, [it] honors that same thing in you. I really do think that if people operated around the word namaste, then I don’t think we would be in such trouble globally. I think it’s one of the kindest, most exalted greetings you can give anybody. Elyse Briggs is the owner of Yoga at the Village in Glendale, CA. She is a licensed massage therapist as well as a certified and nationally registered teacher of massage and yoga therapies. For more information on Yoga at the Village, please call 818.265.9833 or visit their Web site, www.yogaatthevillage.com.

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h o l i s t i c b u s i n e s s hy call 2010 the invisible year? Unable to trace my by Pia steps in the world, I had to go beyond the life I had known—I did a disappearing act. Throughout the year, it became clear to me that everything was out of balance. I was no longer a daughter, a wife, or a sister; my daughter was well on her way to becoming a grown woman. These parts of life changing in such a short time gave me a need to reconnect with the seeker within. I did not realize how much of what I thought of myself was defined by what I did in the world. This was not satisfying anymore, and so I became a woman back on the path. This shift and sudden need to look within oneself may occur for any one of us. For me, the death of both parents, divorce, and the ending of a great job happened this year. Much is said on grieving and its stages, but there is not much help or compassion for those going through it. People just don’t know what to say, so they say nothing. That is a very alienating way to deal with others’ pain. Pretending it did not happen or that the feelings are not real helps no one. I happened to get a wake up call. I was given the advice to not do anything drastic for one year, so I went into the cocoon phase. Although it seemed that I was at the top of my game, on top of the world, gone out on the road to cook for some very down-to-earth vegans, it wasn’t so. Some

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would say I had arrived, but little did they, or even I, know that I was falling apart. There was no Hagan one to blame because I did not ask enough questions or say what I needed. I was working 20hour days traveling city to city, for three months on the road. I needed to get off. Everything had changed, and I was having to compromise and witness injustice in the business. Unable to take care of myself, let alone others, I was finally all used up. The Time for Self-Care is Forever Finally, I realized that it was time to take care of myself. One of the things I pursued was acupuncture. A trusted healer worked on me monthly to support me through this time. These treatments have saved my life at times when the Western doctors gave me false diagnoses. Another step towards self-care that I took was participating in Floating, a fouryear adventure in the water tank—often on the full moon—that provided me with a deep connection to the universe without the limits of my body, as if being held by the universe. I also began Amanae, a form of bodywork that rapidly releases body trauma to push through a lifetime of not looking at pain. Amanae releases what we are protecting, what is held in the body and holding us back. This release is very similar to the birth process in meeting the pain as it comes up, releasing with breath and screaming. Finally, sleeping is an important part of my self-care, as it is the best medicine for regeneration. Healing and inspiration comes to me in my dreams. For the Heart Along my journey of personal transformation, I participated in Tara’s Mandala Dance Offering, a sacred dance and daily practice which provided me with healing and renewal. A celebration of the beauty with in all women, this daily practice gave me stability while I tore everything apart. This is where I found my teacher, Prema, someone I was able to trust as everything I knew fell away. In learning to take care of myself, I looked within to discover what I love to do. continued on page 46

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PRACTICES

soon enough, she began to feel horrible. Luckily for her, she was in her nutrition class when this exact topic came up. “I am so lucky to have a degree in nutrition, because it is so practical,” she says. Taking information from her classes, Erzen began her transformation into a healthier diet. “I started having more balanced meals, and I think that’s something people don’t think about,” says Erzen. Her meals became more structured into what is called The Plate Method. She explains that a plate should be comprised of 1/3 protein, 1/3 starch or fruit, and 1/3 non-starchy vegetables. This method worked very well for Erzen. While this is helpful, there are also other areas that must be focused on as well. “People can feel tired and weak if they are not doing it right,” says Erzen. Vegetarians have problems consuming enough iron, B-12, calcium, vitamin D, and omega 3’s. Being aware of this and focusing on products where such nutrients can be found is essential to a vegetarian diet. B-12 is something that is only in animal foods, unless products are fortified. Most vegan friendly products are, such as tofu and soy milk. “If you are not careful B-12 deficiency can happen,” explains Erzen. Vegan products can also be fortified with Vitamin D and Calcium, but not always. Products such as beans, peanut butter, nuts, and seeds are very good for vegetarians. They are high in protein and some in calories, which is great because vegetarians tend to consume less calories, according to Erzen. Erzen stresses the focus on non-starchy vegetables such as salad, broccoli, and tomatoes. “Sometimes vegetarians will be vegetarian but won’t eat vegetables,” Erzen states. Instead they tend to focus on cereals and dairy products. Vegetables need to be included in a vegetarian diet. They contain nutrients that your body needs in order to stay strong. When it comes to iron, vitamin D, and omega 3’s, Erzen agrees that supplements might need to be considered. “I think food is always best, but it can be really hard for some nutrients,” she says. Cereals are usually fortified with nutrients, but Erzen still believes it can be tricky to actually get enough from food. “Famously from fish, omega 3’s can be hard to get from plant sources. Having a good ratio between omega 3 and omega 6 is really anti-inflammatory and good for your overall health, heart disease and such.” Checking to make sure the body is equipped with adequate nutrients is very simple. Erzen suggests two tests that should be done every one to two years: a Chem 14 and an iron panel. The Chem 14 is a complete blood count and basic metabolic panel. “It gives you a snapshot of what is going on in your body,” says Erzen. Vitamin D is also a growing concern, so she suggests a vitamin D lab as well. Becoming a vegetarian is not extremely difficult, but a good knowledge and a little research will decrease the risk of complications along the way. The benefits that proceed with a vegetarian transformation are definitely worth the extra effort. “As vegetarians we have a lot less cancer over the course of our lives,” Erzen explains. “Plant based diets have shown to prevent all kinds of cancers. We also tend to be leaner, tend to have healthier hearts, so less heart disease, fewer heart attacks, lower blood cholesterol, lower blood pressure, and great lipid profiles.” Vegetarian ideals will keep expanding and the effect on the world will be seen. Just make sure to stay healthy. Erzen dreams of a time when our world can meet in the middle. “I do not think it is all or nothing,” she says. “You can have a plantbased diet without feeling you can never eat meat again. I think if more people adopted this philosophy we would have a very different world.” Amanda Hinds is a graduate from Kent State University with a degree in Journalism and Mass Communications. She is currently a design intern at Vision Magazine and has created cover art for several issues as well as page designs for the magazine. Contact her at 330.858.0445 or e-mail manderz0266@yahoo.com.

V I S I O N M AG A Z I N E

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“Holistic Holiday” continued from page 11

spiritual

vacations that can accommodate their macrobiotic or other special diet. The cruise provides the perfect balance between physical activity and downtime, between educational presentations and entertainment. Some of the presenters on the upcoming 2011 cruise include: Dr. T. Colin Campbell, author of “The China Study”; Dr. Joan Borysenko, bestselling mind-body medicine author; and Christina Pirello, Emmy Award winning vegan chef. With over 30 teachers and 100 classes for all ages and interests, the cruise will have something for everyone to learn from and enjoy. It is an incredible, unique experience that is surely not to be missed.

practices

Sunday Services on the science of yoga meditation and successful living

ALL

The upcoming annual Holistic Holiday at Sea cruise will take place from February 27 to March 6, 2011. For more information about Holistic Holiday at Sea, please visit www.atasteofhealth.org, e-mail tasteofhealth@charter.net, or call 828.749.9537. To make a reservation, contact TravelGroup International at 561.447.0750 or e-mail holisticholiday@travelgroupint.com.

L C O M E

TOPICS ~ D ECEMBER 2 0 1 0 DEC 5

Receiving God’s Answers to Your Prayers

“Ageless Secret” continued from page 13

DEC 12

Yoga: Personal Experience of God

about one half of a percent [increase], which doesn’t seem like much to the average person. But it is huge because it shows that there is an expansion in the water; the actual structure has been changed. I sent [the results] off to an independent lab that is government certified and they obtained the same results as me, so I have the certification. We now have a simple way to explain how the Ageless Secret revitalizes the water in the skin. When the Ageless Secret contacts the water in your skin, since you are 70 percent water, it revitalizes that water and restructures it, and now you see the pumping, lifting, toning, tightening, smoothing, and wrinkle reduction as a result of the expansion of the water in upper layers of the skin. Just by itself it works really great because we are energetic beings. VM: What do you think is in your future? JK: The Ageless Secret is quite beneficial at many levels because we have within us a natural skin renewal process (NSRP). With NSRP, every 28 days you get new skin on your face, and then through a process called critical mass and cellular recruitment, not one atom, not one molecule will be on your face in six months. The big mystery in biology is, that if it is all new, why are we looking older as we are aging [and] why are we getting older? Dr. Burr devoted 20 years of research studying the energy field around people, plants, and seeds. What he discovered was that this field was critical to the development of the organism and if you damage the field you damage the organism. He even said that the field was a template to determine how that organism developed. People have not been paying attention to what they are putting on their skin that interferes with this energy field—that is the problem. I wrote an e-book for whoever wants to download it for free. It’s packed with information from many holistic doctors that I have worked with over time that have been helpful in guiding me into the development of the Ageless Secret. Nutritional and lifestyle choices can make a big difference in a short amount of time for a person’s interior health, such as keeping themselves on the alkaline side [when choosing between eating acidic versus alkaline foods]. The Ageless Secret will produce conditions that will produce a wonderful high level of immediate gratification, but it is the actual renewal of skin that the body does on its own that produces these incredible changes that people see around six months. It is a gift from the creator!

DEC 19

Attunement With the Christ Consciousness

DEC 26

The Purpose of Life

Self-Realization Fellowship

Jim Kaszyk is a chemist and medical researcher who combines Eastern with Western science and technology in an effort to better understand the human body and help people live longer, healthier lives. For more information on The Ageless Secret™, please contact Kaszyk at 760.341.2255 or visit www.agelesssecret.com. V I S I O N M AG A Z I N E

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The teachings of Paramahansa Yogananda

San Diego Temple 3072 1st Avenue 619.295.0170 Encinitas Temple 939 Second St. 760.436.7220 Services every Sunday at

9:30 and 11:00 a.m. Y O G A N A N D A – S R F. O R G

Calendar

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DECEMBER

DECEMBER 11 SATURDAY

DECEMBER 4 saturDAY CLEARING YOUR MAGNETIC FIELD WITH DEBBIE FORD & JAMES VAN PRAAGH Become a Magnet for Love, Money and Opportunities. Wilshire Ebel Theatre Los Angeles. Reserve now seats are limited. www.hayhouse.com or call 800.654.5126.

Spiritually Unique Cayce Pathfinders Healing & Prayer Circle Come Experience a Unique form of Energy & Healing work.

DECEMBER 6 MONDAY MEDITATION OPEN HOUSE: Join us at 4:45 for complimentary yoga or simply arrive at 6 p.m. for refreshments, discussion and meditation — led by Master Teacher Erhard Vogel, Ph.D. RSVP: programs@ vogelinstitute.com or (858) 731-9879. $10 suggested donation. NATARAJA MEDITATION & YOGA CENTER - www. evogel.net.

Mystical Dragon I 570 Grand Ave. Carlsbad, Ca 92008 760-720-1986

MASSAGE SCHOOL OPEN HOUSE. Outstanding Massage Career Certifications. Top Quality Instructors Including Chargers Therapist. Only $8/hr Tuition! www.naturalsuccess.com, 760.635.1085. DECEMBER 7 TUESDAY DISCOVER ANCIENT HAWAIIAN HEALING WITH A POWERFUL GROUP HEALING SESSION Tune in by phone or web: 6pm PT: Replay unlimitedly up to 1 week: You have the opportunity to experience: Three rounds of powerful energy healing; Greatly reduced or eliminated symptoms; Transformation on body, mind, spirit, and emotional levels. Only $29 if register by Dec 7th at www.AncientHawaiianHealings.com or 808.283.9273 DECEMBER 9 THURSDAY DR. CAROLLE PRESENTS: LIVING YOUR LIFE IN BALANCE; Mind, Body & Soul 7 to 9 PM $25 Your mental, physical & spiritual health are part of the equation for a healthy life and fulfilling life. Dr. Carolle Jean-Murat, M.D., is a gifted medical intuitive, board certified gynecologist and has advised thousands of women how to live their lives in balance. www.drcarolle. com or call 619.850.5030.

HOLIDAY CRYSTAL TRUNK SHOW. Gorgeous, powerful crystals, including beautiful crystal jewelry, available just in time for the holiday gifting season. December 11 from 12-4pm at The Imagine Center. The first 20 attendees will receive a $10 Imagine Center gift card valid from 12/12 – 12/31. Admission is free. The Imagine Center is located at 18635 Ventura Blvd, Tarzana, CA. Check us out online at http://www.theimaginecenter.com or by phone at 818.345.1100.

DECEMBER 12 SUNDAY

Are You Ready For Transformation?

MyTransformationCircles.com Manifest Your Intentions & Desires For 2011

Give The Gift Of Love & Transformation! 1/2 Price For Your Companion! Come Join Us At The La Costa Resort And Spa For The Seven Spiritual Laws Of Success Transformation Circles

DECEMBER 10 FRIDAY INSTITUTE OF THOUGHT ANNUAL CHRISTMAS PARTY Potluck and Gift Exchange, bring a small gift $5. 6:30-9:30, 3511 Camino del Rio South, Fourth Floor, RSVP 619.516.3999.

Dec 12th • Jan 16th • Feb 13th

Tuition is $25/advance and $30/door. For more details and registration visit mytransformationcircles.com

V I S I O N M AG A Z I N E

DECEMBER 12 SUNDAY

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Sunday, 2-4 pm Dec 12th

DECEMBER 16 THURSDAY DR. CAROLLE’S WELLNESS & RENEWAL CENTER SAN DIEGO Dr. Carolle Presents, with natural food expert, Irene Lang Healthy Eating: Stay Healthy, Prevent Cancer & Lose Weight 7 to 9 PM $25 Simple steps to healthy eating, preparing quick and healthy meals that you like. Dr. Carolle Jean-Murat, M.D., is a gifted medical intuitive, board certified gynecologist and has advised thousands of women how to live their lives in balance. Irene Lang has created a natural food program that anyone will enjoy. www. drcarolle.com or call 619.850.5030. DECEMBER 17 FRIDAY LOUIX’S BIRTHDAY - DARSHAN Los Angeles Skirball Cultural Center 2701 North Sepulveda Blvd. Los Angeles, CA. For more information call 888.288.3735 www.louix.org or samantha@louix.org DECEMBER 17-19 FRIDAY-SUNDAY AKASHIC RECORDS PRACTITIONER TRAINING/LA AREA: Learn to read the Akashic Records for yourself and others in one-weekend certification trainings. Access the vibrational dimension of your Soul’s journey through lifetimes for guidance, healing, creative evolution. Private readings also available. Barbara Schiffman, 818-415-3479, www. YourLifeandSoul.com, www.Meetup.com/ AkashicLA DECEMBER 29-JANUARY 2 THURSDAY-SUNDAY NEW YEARS EVE RETREAT at The Lodge of Torrey Pines, La Jolla CA. For information or to Register for the retreat please contact Samantha@louix.org or call. 888.288.3735 www.louix.org

JANUARY

JANUARY 28-30 FRIDAY-SUNDAY

JANUARY 9 SUNDAY SPECIAL OPEN HOUSE AT DR. CAROLLES Wellness and RenewaL Center, San Diego. January 9th, 1-5 PM, Donations Gratefully Accepted On the One Year Anniversary of the 7.2 Earthquake in Haiti. Celebrating the art and survival of the children of Haiti. Art Show, program for children, Dr. Carolle will present an update with the latest information on what is happening in Haiti. www.drcarolle.com or call 619.850.5030. 12.10

FEBRUARY 11-13 FRIDAY-SUNDAY IET PRACTITIONER CERTIFICATION INTENSIVE. Join Bonny--Master Instructor—in Sedona, AZ. A safe and effective method of cellular release in partnership with the angels. February 11-13- Pre-registration at 928-300-0359 www.learniet.com/bonny_kraus.asp

APRIL APRIL 2-9 SATURDAY-SATURDAY DR. PAT ALLEN “THE ART OF RELATIONSHIPS” CRUISE to the Mexican Riviera for singles and couples. April 2 – 9, 2011. www.drPatAllen. com. Contact Blanca at Willett Travel 800.994.5538.

JANUARY 17 MONDAY MIRACULOUS MONDAYS, JANUARY 17, 24, 31 Mondays - Holistic Health classes, 6-7, 7-8 pm-Massage/Bodywork sessions 8:15-9:15 pm. Complimentary. Massage CEUS available 6-10 pm. $15/hr. School of Healing Arts, Garnet and Cass, Pacific Beach, 92019. Call Joy for more info. 619.316.6714.

ONGOING SUNDAYS

Harmony Grove

JANUARY 21-23 FRIDAY-SUNDAY HOW DO YOU ENVISION YOUR YEAR AND YOUR LIFE? Imagine 2011 Weekend Retreat January 21, 22, 23. Joshua Tree Retreat Center 619.723.6770 www. devaretreats.blogspot.com.

JANUARY 27-28 THURSDAY-FRIDAY BECOME A CERTIFIED LIFE COACH AND EXECUTIVE COACH. Our 2-Day Intensive will teach your everything you need to know to succeed. Register Today. Jan. 27-28 Westin HotelLAX Please call 866.4552155 or visit www. certifiedcoachesfederation.com.

JANUARY 28-30 FRIDAY-SUNDAY -IET PRACTITIONER INTENSIVE Join Bonny, Master Instructor—in Las Vegas, NV--3 levels of certification for self, distant and client--Healing one Heart-ata-time. January 28-30, 2011- 24 CEU’s Pre-registration at 928-300-0359 www. learniet.com/bonny_kraus.asp

JANUARY 28-31 FRIDAY-MONDAY MATRIX ENERGETICS LEVEL 1 & II SAN FRANCISCO. LEVEL III FEB. 2-3 3RD. Richard Bartlett, DC, ND teaches Matrix Energetics a consciousness technology. During this life-changing weekend you will learn the art of rewriting every rule you’ve ever had about your life. Call now. 8000.269.9513 or visit www. matrixenergetics.com

Spiritualist Association

Services

FEBRUARY FEBRUARY 4-6 FRIDAY-SUNDAY FIVE ANIMAL FROLICS QIGONG with world-renowned health educator and Qigong Master Ken Cohen in San Diego, February 4-6, 2011. The Five Animal Frolics are gentle, highly enjoyable exercises modeled on the Crane, Bear, Monkey, Deer and Tiger. It is the oldest healing exercise in the world and the standard against which other qigong methods are measured. Cohen is the author of “The Way Qigong: the Art and Science of Chinese Energy Healing” and best-selling Sounds True audio/video programs. His work has been sponsored by the American Cancer Society, the Mayo Clinic and numerous universities. Register today as class size is limited: www.kennethcohen.com, info@ qigonghealing.com. 03.11

FEBRUARY 5-6 SATURDAY-SUNDAY BACH FLOWER EDUCATION LEVEL 1 SEMINAR, San Diego. Our thoughts and feelings affect our health. Learn how to reduce worry and stress, and enhance well-being for yourself and others. This course is a prerequisite for the Advanced and Practitioner Trainings, which are coming to San Diego in 2011. Courses approved by the Bach Centre, UK. CE’s available. Information and enrollment online at www.bachflowereducation.com

V I S I O N M AG A Z I N E

Incorporated and Serving ALL in California Since 1896

SaturdaysHealing 1:00pm Church 2:00pm Sundays Healing 10:00am Church 11:00am

Psychic Fair

1st Sat. of Month, 10:00am-4:00pm

Certification and Personal Growth Classes

• Mediumship • Healing • Ministerial • Ordinations

Private Readings Available Information about Speakers & Directions

760-745-9176

Escondido, CA www.harmonygrovespiritualist.org ONENESS MEDITATION & ENERGY ATTUNEMENT – Offers deep breathing meditation and alignment of your personal energy field. An interactive Oneness group where each shares their gifts and holds the space for each other’s healing and empowerment. Don’t know your gifts? Goddess Light and Ordained Metaphysician Tauheedah Shakoor-Curry creates safe space and delivers spirit messages to help clarify your calling. 11am – 1pm at The Imagine Center, 18635 Ventura Boulevard, Tarzana, CA 91356. $10 love offering. Register at 818-3451100 or online at www.theimaginecenter. com. The Group does NOT meet on the fourth Sunday of the month.

D EC E M B ER 20 10

SUNDAYS ARE YOU READY FOR TRANSFORMATION? Come join us at the la costa resort and spa for the seven spiritual laws of success transformation circles. for details and registration visit mytransformationcircles.com 02.11 DEVOTIONAL SINGING MANTRA MUSIC Every Sunday 7-9pm. FREE! Led by Cass Smith, Donna & Teeto Cheema, Jim & Lynn Chow & Friends. Singing and chanting the sweet names of God, with love and devotion is the easiest and most effective way to reach liberation. 2845 Cacatua St. La Costa, CA 92009. 760.431.7658 or 760.753.3353. SPICA -–WAY OF LIGHT INSPIRATIONAL SERVICES 2nd Sunday of the month at 10am, 4th Sunday at 9am. Myztic Isle Bookstore, 8036 La Mesa Blvd, La Mesa, CA. 619.588.6483 for information. FIND THE CENTER OF DIVINITY WITHIN! Inspirational prayers, metaphysical teachings, music, social hour to follow. 10:30AM-11:30AM. Teaching of the Inner Christ 1100 N. Second St. Suite 1114 El Cajon, CA 92021. 619.447.7007. 03.11 MONDAYS $8 BEGINNERS YOGA CLASSES Monday @ 6:00 p.m. Tuesday’s @ 5:30 p.m. 2333 Camino del Rio South #240 92108 www.yogawell.com 619.917.0998 FREE PSYCHIC READINGS every FIRST Monday 7:30pm by students in Vessa’s INTUITIVE INSIGHTS Clairvoyant Program, 4455 Morena Blvd. #108, 858.509.7582 www.MyIntuition.Net 02/11 TUESDAYS FIRST AID FOR THE SOUL – A healing circle for nurturing the soul. Join us to shift from highly stressful situations to a state of calmness and serenity, enabling wise choice. This group uses guided creative visualization to release and renew. Through self-healing with forgiveness; transformation, empowerment and well-being are restored. Group meets bi-weekly on Tuesday evenings from 7 – 9pm; 10/5, 10/19, 11/2; at the Imagine Center, 18635 Ventura Boulevard, Tarzana, CA 91356. Free parking in the rear. Call 818-345-1100 or register online at www.theimaginecenter.com. Group Led by Rosalba Fontanez, Theta Healing Practitioner and Hypnotherapist. $20 per session earns 15% Discount on crystals & candles with paid registration, valid through end of the month issued. PROFESSIONAL SPORTS MASSAGE CLASS with Chargers Therapist Tuesday Evenings. Exceptional Quality Craniosacral Class Saturday Afternoons. Incredible Tuition: Save up to 60%. www. naturalsuccess.com 760.635.1085.

TUESDAYS CLINICAL NUTRITION. INTRODUCTORY or FULL CERTIFICATION. Special Discounts. Most comprehensive training from nationally honored Nutritionists. Revised! 7:00-9:50 pm. Natural Healing Institute, 760-943-8485 enroll@ naturalhealinginst.com or visit www. naturalhealinginst.com. WEDNESDAYS MIRACLE CIRCLE MEDITATION: Connect with your inner divinity through deep meditation, inspirational prayers, and group discussion. 7pm-8pm. Teaching of the Inner Christ 1100 N. Second St. Suite 1114 El Cajon, CA 92021. 619.447.7007 03.11 CLINICAL MASTER HERBOLOGY. INTRODUCTORY or FULL CERTIFICATION. Special Discounts. Most comprehensive training from nationally honored Master Herbalists. Revised! 7:00-9:50pm. Natural Healing Institute, 760.943.8485 enroll@naturalhealinginst.com or visit www.naturalhealinginst.com. WEEKLY PSYCHIC DEVELOPMENT CLASS–This class format supports development of your psychic abilities. Learn how to prepare to send and receive messages clearly and safely; connect to loving spirit guides, angels and deceased loved ones; to open and close energy ﬁelds; and to explore various forms of intuitive abilities. 7 – 9pm at The Imagine Center, 18635 Ventura Blvd., Tarzana, CA 91356. $25.00 fee. Register at 818.345.1100 or online at www.theimaginecenter.com. THURSDAYS PROFESSIONAL ULTRA SWEDISH MASSAGE CLASS Outstanding Skills and Instructor. Compare Our Exceptional Quality, Only $495/100 hrs. www. naturalsuccess.com 760.635.1085.

THURSDAYS FREE DETOXIFICATION AND WEIGHT LOSS CLASS 1st Thursday of every month. 6:30 PM. Easy and successful program. Register @ Body Basics Health Center, San Diego. 619.296.7390 01.11 FRIDAYS SPIRITUAL CINEMA FRIDAYS 7:30pm (Donation) The Center for Health and Wellbeing. 3636 Fifth Ave., San Diego, CA92103 www.integrativemedicinesandiego. com 619.814.5542 HAPPINESS CLASSES - Based on the lifehealing teachings of VERNON HOWARD, Fridays - 8pm; Sundays - 10am. New Life Foundation, 5779 Westminster Blvd., Westminster, CA. 714.899.9300 Conquer stress, handle difﬁcult people with ease, banish problems. Donation basis.

SATURDAYS PSYCHIC SKILLS AND TECHNIQUES WITH CORRINE – On hiatus for November, this practice circle resumes on 12/4 and 12/18. It will help you increase your intuitive abilities and strengthen your connection with Spirit. Focus is on receiving and delivering loving messages from spirit guides, angels and deceased loved ones. The goal is to relate messages that are for the highest and best good of each participant. Saturdays, 12/4 and 12/18 from 1 – 3pm at the Imagine Center, 18635 Ventura Blvd, Tarzana, CA 91356. $15 minimum donation. Register at 818.345.1100 or online at www. theimaginecenter.com . RAW FOODS PREPARATION. Therapeutic. Live. Exotic. Gourmet. Medicinal Themes. Natural Healing Institute, 760.943.8485 enroll@naturalhealinginst. com or www.naturalhealinginst.com

V I S I O N M AG A Z I N E

“Bhakti Fest” continued from page 14

body and spirit must work together to arrive at earthly states of harmony. Healthy people know this. During a kirtan session, our vibrations begin to synchronize and align themselves to each others’ vibrations. Through this magical kirtan formula, our everyday vibrations begin to align even further out into stronger, more epic ones. For me personally—as someone not attached to any religion—I’d like to add this: The experience felt liberating to my soul. It kept me afloat during an otherwise potentially dark period. It’s just amazing how powerful the resulting effect of conscious breathing and chanting in a group setting can be. So for us city dwellers, the heroic mission of getting ourselves out to the desert— the outrageous gas, nothing but static on the radio, road trip snacks, the passage through Palm Springs’ enigmatic windmill city—is worth the trip, in my opinion. We all could use a little healing. And if you’re keen to the idea, you could look at it as another phase in your spiritual journey. Bhakti Fest is on for 2011. If you missed it this year, don’t worry—you can go next year. Get back to the heart, people! Jai Ma! Daphne Carpenter is a writer and videographer who alternates between living in California and Brazil. She is also an advocate for the rights of homeless youth, and does everything in her power to change their unjust situations. She can be reached at daphnestree@hotmail.com. www.bhaktifest.com.

“2012” continued from page 17

This distinction between simply increasing our vibration (or lowering it) is crucial, for if we try to increase our vibration without waking up to our essential nature there will not be complete contentment here, there or anywhere. There will always be another goal, another object or experience to chase after without true happiness all along the way. There is a resting place, a great celebration in simply being, for no particular reason at all, just as a child celebrates unknowingly through its play and through its discovery of the way of form. Currently, there are many beings on this earth that are awakening to their Essential Nature. We will hear no screaming and shouting from these beings, as the waking up process can at first be a bit of a shock, realizing how deep the slumber may have been. Awakening can be sobering and grounding, and thankfully so. Some see the influx of the 2012 energies as being helpful in making the awakening “transition” easier. Many beings are here at this time because they are drawn to this and want to jump on to the proverbial bandwagon—some to take advantage and some to be of service. Spontaneous and natural vibration alteration (evolution or involution) occurs when we realize the true and ultimate nature of our being. This is simply so because false beliefs that we were buying into are duped as being no longer necessary (and actually lots of hard work to upkeep), so they fall away out of their own accord. When ease, energy and alertness, love, wisdom, and power are in balance, we transition through the shift seamlessly, and it is in such gratitude that we find ourselves—for all that is, exactly how it is (no matter “how” we arrived)—whether clothed by denser forms in this third dimension or in fuller splendor in higher dimensions. To live, to love, and to languish in the illumination of our being—in the Truth of our being—to be truly awake, to be consciously at one with our True Self— with All That Is, with no other, no matter in what experience or dimension, or what astronomical energy shifts and evolutionary changes that may be occurring is True Happiness. This enlightenment is available to us now. This Joy is here now. For more information, visit www.ourinspire.com.

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v i s i o n a r y

a r t i s t

Guido Vedovato otavodeV o Guido Vedovato is a self-taught painter and sculptor from northeastern Italy. Although his creations began as a simple hobby, he became more professional by the 1980s, having his first exhibition in 1986. Vedovato is inspired by his immediate environment— life’s scenes, people, and animals in the mountains where he has been living. Vedovato’s work has often been compared to the late French artist, Dominique Peyronnet because of the use of the fantastic and mystery in his paintings. His rejection of reality and perspective in his artwork invites people to envision a more childlike, naïve world which is filled with unique textures and vivid colors. His artwork has been shown in museums all over the world, including his home country of Italy as well as other European countries, the United States, Canada, Israel, Mexico, and Thailand.

For more information on Vedovato and his artwork

please e-mail him at guido.vedovato@libero.it or visit his Web site, www.guido-vedovato.it.

V I S I O N M AG A Z I N E

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“Philip Shepherd” continued from page 27

“The Invisible Year ” continued from page 38

could be if we stopped demeaning the female, shutting it out of our own bodies and perusing only ideas and solutions as an imposition of our will on the world around us. I do have hope. I just fear that the evolution of our consciousness won’t come early enough and there will be some very dark times ahead. If those dark times come then they will just accelerate our recognition of what we need to do next. VM: What would the female mind look like for everyone, both male and female? PS: Right now our culture teaches us to live in isolation, so we are alienated from our bodies and each other. We notice nature through our windshields, our double-pained windows, or the illuminated screens that surround us, but we don’t recognize nature as our most intimate teacher. That isolation is a very male thing. The male strength requires a sort of isolation because [it] is really typified by the astronaut who leaves the planet, Mother Earth, [and] goes into space and looks back and sees what is left in a totally new way. Then the astronaut comes back to Earth with that new perspective. What happened to us is that we have lost the ability to come home, to return to the pelvic bowl. We have lost the ability to come back to the present. We keep ourselves in orbit, accumulating more and more perspective in this isolation, whether it is the hermetically sealed walls of our house or our car, or just a psychological space. That, I think, is the problem with our disassociation with the female and it is what will ruin us because isolation is a fantasy, and as long as you are chasing a fantasy, you are out of balance with the reality around you. It is a matter of recognizing that what our culture presents as normal is just a story that has been develop[ing] for 10,000 years. It is a story that is taking a terrible toll on us. We have surrounded ourselves with imagery in our architecture, in our automobiles, [and in] our cultural icons. When you go into a public washroom and there is the sign on the door that says this is a woman’s washroom—and the head is a little ball that is separated from the body below—we look at that and we recognize ourselves. The layers and layers in our culture communicate the story to us that the head should be separated from the body and the self is an isolated entity that exists independent from the world, [but] it doesn’t; it’s a complete fantasy. This is the story our culture has told us. We look at a skyscraper, and what that communicates ultimately is that nature is irrelevant. It is this modelistic huge thing. It stands there unchanged and that is how we come to identify the self. Why doesn’t a skyscraper gather the rain and let it run down one side and celebrate it in a waterfall? It doesn’t because nature has no place in our idealized image of ourselves. So once you recognize the story, then you can come back to the ordinary splendor or the world itself. We seek what is extraordinary in our lives, but in reality is pretty much a fantasy. It’s what money can buy. We have all these different images, [but] the only truly extraordinary times in my life have been gained through what is most ordinary. Anything that is truly ordinary is visibly born of the entire cosmos. You look at a twig, and the material from which the twig was made was birthed in stars, just as the material from our bodies was. The twig itself, the shape of it, tells of the rains, the suns, and the seasons it has gone through. You go back further into its story and it tells about the ancestors of the tree that breathed oxygen into the world and sustained your ancestors. It’s through the ordinary that we experience the extraordinary. That is why daily living is such a gift and that staleness is a choice.

First, I discovered that hula-hooping was a way of self-expression for me, allowing me to smile and challenge my body. I realized that I love the ocean—walking up a hill in a beautiful coastal town, the ever-changing coast a reflection and reminder of how small I really am. Also during this time of seeking within, an energy worker in Hawaii worked on me, and I responded well. She worked on me daily for a week, and that was when things really started to break up. I shed many tears daily as I danced and started to see what was holding me back. Finally, in searching for things that I could give to my heart, I found cooking, which would become not only a passion, but also my future career. For me, it is the ultimate form of self-love and self-care. These are the ways I honor the beauty within and remind myself of the senses that are so important to me. Falling in love with myself, a woman in transition, easily became a transformation. Was it a wake up call to be taken out of life as I knew it and retreat? In this path I was alone, but guided by a few whom I found and trusted. Many relationships started to fall away, and I found myself, at this time, losing long-term friendships in quite dramatic ways. In doing that, the shift was sealed—a very personal journey that cleared the decks so to speak. I found myself still so sensitive, a trait that before would absorb others’ pain and distract from my own. That hard place I had been in for so long turned to sand and started to release. This was a very painful process because I had to look at those moments I held in my heart. These moments came up and I could see how not looking and protecting myself from the pain had kept me from being here now. It felt like sand dissolving in my heart. This transformation has been one of the greatest gifts I have ever given myself. The quest for myself in my journey has taken me deep into my own heart and mind. I continue to awaken and share with others the joy I have found and the stability in these uncertain times. I look within myself to cut away all that is unnecessary, and dance in celebration of the gifts of the great unknown. I hope you, too, take the time to find the healer within you and discover, in whatever way, that which will fill you. Identify and let go of whatever it is that may be holding you back. Dance with abundance, knowing in this precious life that the time is now. The greatest gift of meeting each moment with love and kindness is honoring whomever you may meet along the way and finding those who will support you in your dreams. Pia Hagan is a personal chef, focusing on special diets. She just returned from Kauai from the Tara Dance Retreat, where she was the creative support for the kitchen with her knowledge of “no black foods.” This year she danced the “Destroyer Of Attachment.” For more information on Hagan, please visit www.piahagan.com or e-mail piahagan@ gmail.com.

Philip Shepherd is a writer, actor, and corporate coach who lives and works in Toronto, Ontario. For more information on Shepherd, please visit his Web site, www. philipshepherd.com. Contact him at philip@philipshepherd.com. Shepherd’s new book, New Self, New World can be purchased for $19.95 from North Atlantic Books at www.northatlanticbooks.com. V I S I O N M AG A Z I N E

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