Vision Magazine June 2012 by Vision magazine

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Celebrating Keys to Ascension ~ A Sacred Retreat ~

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Viewpoint The Worm’s Waking

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Holistic Living Shift Begin with Me It’sTime to Know What’s in Our Food

Executive Editor & Publisher Sydney L. Murray sydney@visionmagazine.com editor@visionmagazine.com Editor at Large Kennedy Carr Daphne Carpenter

Greek To Me The Ties That Bind

Ask The LifequakeTM Doctor Advice About Life Transitions

11-15 Mindstates Celebrating Shakti Fest Yoganada Soul Rider 16-20 Culture Lee Sudbury School The Cultural Shift Shifting Culture Through a Poetic Framework 18

Astrology

22-23

Healing Arts Vertical Gardens

24-27

Features Matrix Energetics Maharishi School of Management

Community Resources

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Vision Café Women’s Empowerment Inside Joy Yogamata

Calendar

Visionary Artist Robert Steven Connett

On the Cover

“PLANKTONAUTS” by Robert Steven Connett

June 2012 Theme: Cultural Shift

Next Month, July 2012 Theme: No Time Like the Present

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VIEWPOINT

The Worm’s Waking by Cari Drolet This is how a human can change: there’s a worm addicted to eating grape leaves. Suddenly, he wakes up, call it grace, whatever, something wakes him, and he’s no longer a worm. He’s the entire vineyard, and the orchard too, the fruit, the trunks, a growing wisdom and joy that doesn’t need to devour. —Rumi, “The Worm’s Waking”

s a soul, I chose a very difficult incarnation. I was born into a family that did not provide a solid foundation with the basic human needs such as love, security, nurturing, and validation. There was no such thing as boundaries, and chaos filled every waking moment. At a very young age I found myself on my own, taking care of myself. I was in constant survival mode. I felt as if I was dropped in the middle of a wild jungle with no survival gear, forcing me to get creative in how I lived. I was alone and full of fear and anger, with a huge void deep inside of me. I never felt good enough and I was always sure that everyone on the outside could see how I felt on the inside. I spent most of my time making sure that I was always put together nicely. I worked very hard to support myself and the image I wanted to uphold to the world. In my most desperate moments I would reach for all sorts of things to distract me from the dark shadow that had chased me everywhere I went. I didn’t want to look at the shadow; it was too painful. It was easier for me to keep running from it. My mind convinced me if only I had the perfect job, home, someone who loved me, and the freedom to do whatever I wanted, then and only then would I be a lovable and worthy human being. I had become addicted to the chase. My pursuit of happiness was always outside of myself. I would not rest until I had everything, as I felt I had everything to prove. All things come to an end, and like the “waking worm” that has to travel from deep in the dirt, creating worm holes to get to upper ground, and caterpillars that have to travel through a dark cocoon to become a beautiful butterfly, I too had to step into my darkness and dance with my shadow to awaken. It was a painful journey to the heart, with many twists and turns, heart breaks, and realizations, but it was through the pain and suffering and defeats in my path that I have found my strength and compassion for others. I love how my friend and spiritual counselor, Amber Flynn, describes the journey. She says that remembering your true nature of which you are “love and light” is like stepping out of the fire and walking up a beautiful mountain. A sense of peace and feeling connected to everything surrounds you. At the top of the mountain, you look back at those left behind and you realize you can’t go. You have to go back to hold the light for those still in the darkness. For me personally, this is how a cultural shift takes

VI S I O N M AG A Z I N E • J U N E 2 012 • W W W.VI S I O N M AG A Z I N E .C O M

place. The shift first needs to take place within ourselves—taking responsibility and choosing to live consciously, shifting our perception and motivation as to how we show up for ourselves and others. Our experiences and how we overcome is what moves, touches, and inspires others to awaken. The willingness to dive into those shadowy parts of ourselves creates the possibility for others to do the same. The light we carry inside radiates out from our heart space and has the capability to change the world. As a real estate professional helping homeowners who are upside down on their mortgage by negotiating a short sale on their behalf, I have the opportunity to work with a lot of people who are suffering. They need someone to truly care and have their best interest in mind to guide them through this difficult time. My journey in life has enabled me to be fully present and available for those who are in need. I was speaking with a loan officer the other day, and he was expressing how disappointed he was that some of his colleagues did not learn from the housing crisis. He felt that money and power were still their motivation and that greed is still very much a part of our industry. It reminded me of the duality of life. We are spiritual beings having a human experience and one of the greatest struggles in life is to balance them both. Unfortunately, most of us are living in one or the other. Choosing to put my spiritual practice as number one in my life and my business practice second has enabled me to balance the duality. But most importantly, my spiritual practice has enabled me to stay conscious and mindful to those I might help. Energetically, 2012 has been a powerful year. I truly believe we are all being called to awaken. No one has been exempt from this calling. All beings everywhere have been thrown some curve balls that have turned their lives as they know it upside down. I challenge you to embrace it, love it, go deeper, and when it hurts like hell, go further inside and just be still so you can find the peace. Like the waking worm, sometimes we have to go through a lot of dirt to find it, but once found, that peace is a feeling that money cannot buy. No one else can give it to you or replace it with anything material. Be the change you wish to see. One of my favorite yoga teaches at the Soul of Yoga in Encinitas always ends her class by saying, “May all beings everywhere be joyous and free. Let there be peace on earth and let it begin with me.” Cari Drolet is a Certified Distressed Property Expert and the founder of Lotus Realty Group, which is located in Solana Beach, CA. For more details, please visit www.LotusRealtyGroup.com, e-mail Cari@LotusRealtyGroup.com, or call 858.764.7300. Also be sure to check out Drolet’s blog at wwwlotusrealtygroupcom. blogspot.com.

HOLISTIC LIVING

The Shift Begins With Me by Deborah Lloyd

t is easy to look around us and see how our culture is changing. Women are in the higher echelons of corporate management and are now serious presidential candidates. People are valuing Mother Earth and her gifts, turning away from materialistic goals. Individual spirituality is overshadowing traditional religious practice. The list goes on. Cultural shifts occur one person at a time, one belief at a time. While growing up with the after-effects of polio, I forged a strong dependence on the traditional medical world, and that medical world was a great help to me. Surgeries that moved working leg muscles to atrophied feet, braces and crutches, and hours of physical therapy helped me to walk again. I grew up and forged a good life— happy marriage, mother of two children, meaningful career. But was I really healed? The answer to that question was “no.” For the most part, I lived in uncomfortable acceptance. This state was shaken up decades later when I started feeling high levels of fatigue and was diagnosed with post-polio syndrome, a common condition among polio survivors. The doctors told me to slow down and curtail activities (not easy for a Type A personality!) or I could lose the use of my legs altogether. The medical world had no more answers for me, but I decided I would slow down, follow the rules, and try to maintain the physical abilities I had. That was my new goal. What I did not realize was that maintaining my physical level did not need to be the ultimate goal. The Universe, Spirit, God, whatever name you want to call the Higher Power of Love, had a better idea. An invitation to a better way of being—to experience healing through a non-medical approach—was sent to me. I simply had to accept it. A friend of mine encouraged me to see a healer, a woman who did energy work and was an intuitive. This was totally outside of my comfort zone, but what did I have to lose? Not only did this healer give me insight into why I “chose” to have polio in the first place, but she gave me an important message: I could actually get better. I only had to believe it was possible. This was a new concept for me, one I contemplated and journaled on for

hours. It felt scary, like standing on the edge of a cliff. I did not want to set myself up for a big disappointment. Did I want to invest my feelings and energy into this possibility? What if I failed? Could a healing really happen? I did not make a monumental, one-time decision. Rather, I took it one baby step at a time. I simply became open to the possibility that healing was possible. It was simple and it was life-changing. Once I accepted the possibility, healing went on the fast track! It seemed that many new alternative modalities came into my life once I found the courage and strength to say “yes.” Before I knew it, I experienced a Reiki energy healing session, learned yoga, and worked with a shamanic intuitive healer. I had moved beyond the traditional medical model. For me, it was a seismic cultural shift. What I realized was that healing was needed in all aspects of my being— physical, emotional, and spiritual. It was all connected. The mind-body-spirit connection became a reality in my life. In the past I had pictured myself as separate compartments. I really loved my spiritual being, but disliked my physical body. I understood many of my emotions, but was disconnected from early wounding experiences. I needed to integrate these compartments into one healthy being to become whole again. continued on page 39

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HOLISTIC LIVING

by Sheri Fogarty

It’s Time to Know What’s in Our Food

t seems that we are finally starting to pay more attention to our food. Where does our food come from? Who grows it, and how is it grown or raised? What’s in the food that we eat everyday? We are shifting in this country, towards really learning and caring about the quality of our food. In the middle of last century, food became about convenience instead of nutrition and taste. We were all supposed to work as much as possible and eat our food from frozen packages, as this was an advancement of food technology. Since the mid-1990s, we’ve been subjected to another advancement in food technology: genetically modified organism (GMO) foods. Unfortunately this technology is often used without safety-testing and without consumer knowledge and consent. A friend who just started learning about GMOs told me she felt badly that she didn’t know about them before now. It got me thinking, as I felt the same way when I first learned about what was going on with our food supply, how could I not know I was feeding my kids genetically modified food? And why didn’t I even know what they were? The Non-GMO Project Shopping Guide says: “GMOs (or “genetically modified organisms”) are organisms that have been created through the genesplicing techniques of biotechnology (also called genetic engineering, or GE). This relatively new science allows DNA from one species to be injected into another species in a laboratory, creating combinations of plant, animal, bacteria, and viral genes that do not occur in nature or through traditional crossbreeding methods. Virtually all commercial GMOs are bred to withstand direct application of herbicide and/or to produce an insecticide. None of the GMO traits currently on the market offer increased yield, drought tolerance, enhanced nutrition or any other consumer benefit. Studies, meanwhile, increasingly show a

correlation between consumption of GMOs and an array of health risks.” (See http://www. nongmoproject.org/ consumers/.) Jeffrey Smith says, in The Big GMO CoverUp: “Outside the carefully controlled laboratory setting, it is more difficult to confidently GMO information table at Earth Day 2012 assign GMOs as the cause for a particular set of diseases, especially since there are no human clinical trials and no agency that even attempts to monitor GMO-related health problems among the population. ‘If there are problems,’ says biologist David Schubert, PhD, of the Salk Institute, ‘we will probably never know because the cause will not be traceable and many diseases take a very long time to develop.’” “GM crops were widely introduced in 1996. Within nine years, the incidence of people in the US with three or more chronic diseases nearly doubled—from 7% to 13%. Visits to the emergency room due to allergies doubled from 1997 to 2002. And overall food related illnesses doubled from 1994 to 2001, according to the Centers for Disease Control. Obesity, diabetes, gastrointestinal disorders, and autism are also among the conditions that are skyrocketing in the US.” (See http://urbangardenmagazine.com/2009/11/thebig-gmo-cover-up-2/.) So why didn’t we all know about GMOs? Because it seems as if Monsanto and the other biotech companies making them did not want us to know. Putting genetically modified organisms in our food was never presented to the American people; it was done without our knowledge. The FDA—which, like the USDA, is now staffed with many former employees of Monsanto— allowed GMO seeds and food to be produced and marketed, based on the industries’ own assurance that their products are safe. Their basis for safety was that the seed was the same as the non-GMO seed, although at the same time they said it was also very different and that they should be able to patent it. (Genetically engineered seeds have no consumer benefit. They only benefit the companies who hold the patents.) There was never any safety testing done by the US government, and tests done elsewhere in the world have shown genetically engineered seed and the food grown from it to be unsafe and potentially dangerous. Our government continued on page 39

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“Never trust a man who ties a double Windsor—he’s overcompensating for something.” — My Uncle Tasso

n June 8, 2008, my Father passed away after a long illness that made the last days of his life flicker and sputter like the flame from a blowtorch that had no fuel left to burn. He died 16 days after I’d returned to Los Angeles from a week we’d spent together during which we recognized that in all likelihood we would never see each other again. When I went back to Indiana for the funeral, there was a paradoxically palpable sense of emptiness: a vacuum so profound it filled the space with its nothingness. Later, when all the well-wishers and extended family had gone, it was just my Mom and me in the house where I grew up. She was sitting on the bed in Pop’s room. The doors to his closet were open, and his clothes hung limply yet neatly. As I heard Mom’s memories caroming off the walls, I watched her eyes roam the floor as if she were looking for something, or at least trying to retrieve something that she’d seen last time she was there. Finally, she asked me if there was anything of Dad’s that I wanted. (Though working class, my Father prided himself on his formalwear and the accessories that accompanied it; there were watches, cuff links, belts, and handkerchiefs galore.) As much as I loved my Pop, though, I wanted none of it. Then, almost as an afterthought, Mom asked whether I wanted any of Dad’s ties. More than any of the items Pop wore, ties were his passion: they most tellingly illuminated dimensions of himself that he wasn’t comfortable expressing more directly. There were single hued ties in muted tones for somber affairs like funerals and wakes. There were gaily adorned ties for Greek dances and dinners in Greektown. There were understated ties that brought a regal sensibility, something I always marveled at because though he never rose above a humble station in life, he carried himself like a benevolent king. What united all of them was that they were all top-shelf and expertly crafted. Ties were also one of the things Pop used to connect with me as a young man. Learning to tie them required his expertise. It was a rite of passage I know my Dad reveled in sharing. Though not an inherently patient man, when it came time to teach me to tie a tie Pop really extended himself, understanding that to be short with me over my inability to duplicate a knot would risk losing one more thing that could bind us together. That night in his room as I examined his ties, I came upon one that froze me in my tracks—it was a tie I had forgotten about, one I’d purchased for him over 30 years ago.

GREEK TO ME Exchanges between us swung violently between icy bursts and torrid thrusts. It got so bad that if the phone rang and I answered it and the call was for him and he was present, I would tell my Mom it was for Pop as if he weren’t there. Seeing the pain in Mom’s eyes from being crushed between two implacable forces made me understand that this had to stop. For the first time in my life I addressed my Dad not as my Father but as a man. I told him that though I didn’t know much, I knew that if we continued on the path we were on that we were going to inflict permanent damage on our relationship. He listened mutely, nodding when I had finished, though offering no immediate response. We eventually reconciled, though it came so gradually that time-lapse photography couldn’t have captured it. When Father’s Day approached, still smarting from our war but not wanting to be disrespectful, I bought him a tie for the occasion. But my heart wasn’t in it. Sadly, my choice reflected that: I bought him a clunky knit tie that was as ugly as it was unfeeling. I never saw him wear it once; here it was now, though, 30 years later. Pop treated his ties like he treated his friends—he would never let one go. Why he kept this one I can only guess. Perhaps it reminded him of how we can let relationships suffer in the presence of a love we thought was indestructible. I needed no such reminder. I took three ties, each uniquely reflective of the man. And as I tie one, I hear his voice telling me to measure the ends, intersecting the short side with its longer counterpart, swinging it gently, looping it over itself, twisting it precisely so it doesn’t wrinkle, pulling it through loops that weren’t there a second ago, tugging it gently but firmly into place as I pull its way around my throat. Sometimes when I cinch it too tightly and it feels like it’s about to choke me, I think of how my love for Pop is a lot like the tie wrapped around my neck. It bends and it folds in ways I don’t necessarily understand, clenching when it needs to, releasing when it must. But in the end what’s important is how it comes to rest exactly where it should—over my heart. Michael Raysses is a writer/NPR commentator who lives in Malibu, California. E-mail him at MichaelRaysses@hotmail.com.

---------------I was in my last year of law school and still living at home. I had fallen in love with a girl I was dating, a woman much younger than me. And for some unknown reason, my Father had an aversion to her that was so glaring it brought out things in him I had never seen before, moving my Dad to behave in ways that made him a stranger to me. Up to that time, I’d never seen my Father be anything but consummately polite to everyone; to him, it was a point of honor and dignity. Yet somehow this woman’s presence in my life unnerved him so that he exhibited a thinly-veiled belligerence that violated everything he had ever stood for, making him a hypocrite in my eyes. It sent our relationship into a death spiral. W W W.VI S I O N M AG A Z I N E .C O M • J U N E 2 012 • VI S I O N M AG A Z I N E

LIFE QUAKE ™

Ask the

LifeQuake™ Doctor

Dr. Toni Galardi

ummer officially begins this month, and with it comes an exchange of energies from the planets Uranus and Pluto and our dear Sun. In early June we have a lunar eclipse to boot. The last time we had planetary lineups like this was a time of massive cultural change: the civil rights movement; the women’s movement; and gay liberation. A mere 50 years ago, African Americans living in the south had to sit at the back of the bus, and the question of gays getting married would have seemed like something out of “Brave New World.” Now, in May of 2012, our president is a black man who just sanctioned gay marriage. What will the events of the next three years kick off that will bring forward a new, new world? June is going to be very interesting. Dear Dr. Toni: You have been addressing dreams in your column, so I thought I would send you a dream I have been having. I have been having disaster dreams. I dreamt that Arkansas had an 8.0 earthquake and there was major devastation. Another time I had a dream that a major flood hit Los Angeles near the beach and people were underwater. What should I do with these dreams? Georgia Dear Georgia: You don’t give me any information about your life, so I will have to conjecture. Dreams have many meanings. Prescient dreams (that foretell future events) are more rare than dreams that are working out unconscious, unresolved issues. If the dream about Arkansas is a personal dream, I would ask you to free associate any

impressions you have about Arkansas or if you have any experience related to Arkansas. Secondly, I would ask you to look at the symbolism of earthquakes for you. Is there something in your life that is happening now or that you intuit that is about to happen that may create upheaval and the deconstruction of your foundation? Are you about to do something groundbreaking? Earthquakes can be a metaphor for the emergence of a new you that is coming in a sudden and dramatic fashion. The dream about flooding (if it is also a personal dream and Los Angeles is not about to get hit by a tsunami) may indicate you are being flooded by emotions. Water is often symbolic of the emotional realm and the deep unconscious fears we might have. Given your other dream about earthquakes, you may be repressing deep feelings of trepidation about big changes coming. I would suggest working with a change mastery coach or developing a spiritual practice that can assist you in clearing emotions and calming your central nervous system. My book and CD, “The LifeQuake Method,” can be helpful. Also I would recommend eating foods that enhance serotonin, the calming neurotransmitter, such as whole grains, pasta, and complex carbohydrates. There are also herbs like valerian root, GABA, and ashwagandha that can soothe your nervous system. Taking on a program that enhances resilience and adaptability to change in the body, mind, and spirit is very helpful for both moving through change and enhancing tranquility during the dreamtime. Lastly, we are all part of a collective unconscious and the entire human race is going through massive evolutionary change. You may also be tapping into that as well. When major disasters have happened historically, there have been many reports of people intuiting them coming or having dreams about climate disasters. We are all experiencing massive change that is only going to become even more accelerated, so it is wise to engage in a lifestyle and specific practices that allow for your body and mind to stay centered amidst the chaos. Dear Dr. Toni: There is a lot of talk in the media lately about the chemical oxytocin, and I wondered since it is what women produce when they breast-feed, is this really a good thing for guys to have? I mean, will it make you more girly or appear to be gay if you’re a straight man? Curious Dear Reader: Oxytocin is not just produced by women who are breast-feeding, or women at all for that matter. Oxytocin is a hormone that all people produce, and they have found that men who have healthy oxytocin levels are more trusting and able to bond with other men as well as women. If we are to move toward a gentler world and eliminate war as a solution to anything, we need to increase our oxytocin levels by connecting deeply with one another. The more present you are to another person, the more oxytocin you have. The research of neuroscience has shown that the more oxytocin you have, the more resilient and adaptive to change you are, so oxytocin is a good thing to have during these stressful times of economic contraction. The more you reach out and connect with others, the better you will be at handling stress. Have a question for the LifeQuake Doctor? You can contact her through DrToni@ LifeQuake.net. Dr. Toni Galardi is an author, licensed psychotherapist, professional speaker, and life transitions strategist and is available for consult by phone or SKYPE. You can reach her through her Web site, http://www.lifequake.net, DrToni@LifeQuake.net, or 310.890.6832. Dr. Galardi will be giving a webinar starting in late June called “Abbondanza: Seven Secrets I Learned From My Italian Grandmother for Living Abundantly in Times of Upheaval.” Write Dr. Galardi to get more info.

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M I N D S TAT E S

Celebrating Shakti Fest A Conversation with Sridhar Silberfein by Daphne Carpenter

ision Magazine sat down with Sridhar Silberfein at Shakti Fest on Mother’s Day Weekend, when the air was in bloom with a special feminine radiance. The organizer shared his thoughts about the “humble performers on the line-up,” the “beautiful attendees,” and about how marijuana should be legal. Vision Magazine: I wanted to ask you about the younger artists on the lineup. There seems to be a strong emerging talent—the younger kirtan artists at Bhakti Fest. Many of them have been in the kirtan family since they were in the womb. They’re reaching out to younger generations, and kirtan seems to be mushrooming out and reaching different audiences. Sridhar Silberfein: Yes. Specifically, these youngsters are coming from Hare Krishna families. They were all brought up in ashrams either in the United States or in India. Their bhav—their devotion and dedication—is very strong. Their first principle is to the Guru, and to that whole process. They’re chanting to Krishna, and when you chant to Krishna every morning and night, your eyes light up. They’re all young guys and gals and they’re fantastic. VM: And I notice that on the second stage this year, there’s more electronic music. SS: On the second stage we do have dance music—Kirtronica, last night until three in the morning. We also had Jaya Lakshmi and we saw the Kirtaniyas, backed up by Joey Lugassy. We had the Breath of Life Tribe, the Mayapuris. VM: I think that aspect is cool because it gives Bhakti Fest a little edge. SS: You’re right. And we’re moving in that direction for the younger people.

VM: What is the appeal of kirtan music, especially for people who found it through their yoga practice? SS: Well, yoga is the introduction to kirtan for many people. People go to yoga classes to get their bodies and minds in shape, and then after practicing different modalities of yoga, they say, “What else is there?” Then they dive deeper into the meditation and then expand into the kirtan. The kirtan is what the overriding Bhakti process is. [The artists here] are doing it from their hearts, and making themselves a minimal amount of money… You can’t make money on kirtan. That’s something that people need to understand when they first get into it. This is not a moneymaking business. If you’re really, truly chanting to God, He’s not going to give you money for that. Nobody gets rich doing this. VM: Last time we talked, you mentioned that for this particular festival, a central focus is on wellness and clean food. Is it easy to stray away from that in our daily lives? SS: We’re all immersed in the world of today, and it’s not always a happy, good place. Just to divert, in my interview with Ram Das, he said that today isn’t like the ’60s. The ’60s was a beautiful time. But that’s when [the government] became afraid of us. They started instituting clamps to hold continued on page 37

W W W.VI S I O N M AG A Z I N E .C O M • J U N E 2 012 • VI S I O N M AG A Z I N E

M I N D S TAT E S

Paramahansa Yogananda by Swami Kriyananda

n January 5, 1893, a baby boy was born to a Bengali couple in Gorakhpur, a city in the north of India. Mukunda Lal was the name they gave him. His family name was Ghosh. He was the second of four sons and the fourth of eight children. From early childhood his mother knew his life’s destiny was to live for and to serve God. He once told me that she saw him one day talking with a few little girls. “Mukunda,” she called to him, “come away from there. That is not for you.” He understood, and came away. He was a child of extraordinary will power. The following episode must have occurred when he was not much beyond the age of two. Late one evening he woke his mother to say, “Mother, I want some sandesh (a Bengali sweetmeat).” “The shops are closed, Dear,” was her reply. “But I want sandesh! And I want it now!” “What are we to do?” she asked her husband. “I don’t think it is good to thwart this little one’s will,” was his reply. “I don’t think we can thwart it!” she said. The two of them went out into the night. Reaching the candy maker’s shop, they called out to him in his quarters above. Grumbling, he at last came down, opened the shop, and sold them a few cuts of sandesh. Mukunda was satisfied, and so also were his parents—to be able to go back to sleep! (It is, I might add, a practice in India to allow little children up to the age of two to have their own way whenever possible. Discipline usually begins at the age of three.) Gorakhpur was the home of a sage known as Gorakhnath. My guru told us the following story about him. Gorakhnath, by his yogic powers, lived to the ripe old age of 300 years. In that long space of time he developed all the eight siddhis (spiritual powers) mentioned by Patanjali, the ancient and supreme authority on the science of yoga. When Gorakhnath saw that the time had come for him to leave his body, he gazed through the spiritual eye to find someone fit to receive from him the gift of those powers. He saw a young man, in yoga pose, seated on the banks of the Ganges. Here, he thought, was a fit recipient. Gorakhnath materialized before the young man and declared, “I am Baba Gorakhnath!” No doubt he expected to be greeted with awe and wonder. “Indeed,” said the youth, not greatly impressed. “And what may I do for you?” “I have realized that the time has come for me to leave this body. Before I do so, I want to give to someone I consider worthy the eight siddhis of yoga I have developed. Will you accept them?” The young man said nothing, but Gorakhnath gave him eight pellets of mud. “I have condensed my powers,” he explained, “into these eight pellets. All you need to do is hold them in your right hand, and meditate on what you feel emanating from them. The powers will then become yours.” The youth took the pellets in his right hand, gazed at them a moment, and then asked, “Are these mine to do with as I please?” “Certainly,” the old sage replied. “I have given them to you. They are yours now to use as you like.” Turning toward the river, the young man threw into its flowing water all the eight pellets, which dissolved and disappeared.

VI S I O N M AG A Z I N E • J U N E 2 012 • W W W.VI S I O N M AG A Z I N E .C O M

M I N D S TAT E S

Swami Kriyananda

“What have you done!?” cried the old man. “It took me three hundred years to develop those powers!” The young man gazed at him calmly. “In delusion yet, Gorakhnath?” At these words the old man suddenly realized that, in his search for yogic powers, he had to that extent forgotten God. Offering himself up wholly

now to the Lord, he merged back into the Infinite, a free soul. Mukunda was not interested in powers. He was a complete bhakta (saint of devotion). His brother Sananda once told me, “When Mukunda merely heard the word, God, tears of longing would stream down his cheeks.” Once, when the child was old enough to have learned how to write at least rudimentary Bengali, Mukunda wrote a letter to God, telling the Lord of his love for Him. Addressing the letter to “God, in Heaven,” he posted it trustingly. Thereafter, day after day, he waited for a reply. “Lord,” he prayed daily, “why haven’t You answered me?” At last he was granted a vision. Shining before him in letters of light was God’s answer. It filled the child’s heart with deep satisfaction and gratitude.

Always, throughout his life, Mukunda tried to get people to understand that God is not some mere abstraction. Though the Lord has created billions of universes, He is also very human in the way he relates to His human children. And He likes above all to see in them an attitude of childlike trust. One time, many years later, and not long before his death, Mukunda—who by that time was known by his monastic name, Paramahansa Yogananda—spoke of one of his disciples, Horace Gray, a very simple monk who found it difficult even to speak: he was spastic. “Horace will get there in this life,” the Master remarked. “His devotion has pleased God.” Another disciple, trying to reconcile this prediction with Horace as he knew him, remarked, “But it must be a very simple kind of devotion isn’t it, Sir?” With a blissful smile the Master replied, “Ah, that is the kind which pleases God!” Childlike though Mukunda certainly was, he also had a strong sense of justice, and a strong will. His will power inspired his companions to do what was right even when it took great courage to do so. In his school there was a boy, Mukunda’s senior by several years, who found pleasure in bullying those smaller and weaker than himself. One day, as this boy was inflicting a brutal beating on a child much smaller than himself, Mukunda marched up to him and cried, “If you want to fight, fight me!” “Why, gladly!” replied the bully with a leer. He turned from the little one and sprang at Mukunda. The other boys gathered in a circle to watch this unequal battle. Privately they sided with Mukunda, but they didn’t dare say so out loud. The bully lifted his adversary above his head, then dashed him to the ground, momentarily stunning him. He stooped over and lifted him up again. This time, however, Mukunda saw his chance. With both arms he grasped the bully about the neck and squeezed. The much bigger boy, finding it difficult continued on page 41

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M I N D S TAT E S

Good for You Good for the Planet

T I

he Soul Rider:

Birth of a Surfing Archetype by Ari Marsh

n the early 1990s, while daily surfing the reefs of Leucadia in North San Diego County, CA, I began to tap into an energy source simultaneously deep within myself and all around me in the ocean. It was something that I began to experience in the water during long, often solo sessions, when I dropped deep into the organic, cosmic flow which is the very essence of the surfing experience. In these moments, an aspect of my deepest nature as both a surfer and a human being began to emerge, and I soon felt myself to be an intricate part of the earth, the ocean, and even the waves themselves. While merged in this sense of Oneness with all things both liquid and natural, I conceptualized an archetype for the perfect surfer, a mystical human being of a sort, completely at one and in-tune with the ocean’s rhythm and flow, yet humble and gentle. Thus, the Soul Rider was born. Through a series of original poems and sketches, I began to craft the first volume in what became a series of three art, poetry, and surfing booklets, and an assortment of articles based around this mystical surfer, his thoughts, perspectives, desires, and most of all, his relationship with Mother Ocean. This is the story of the Soul Rider, created by surfer, poet, and artist, Ari Marsh, and published primarily through Soul Rider Publications between 1992 and 2004. The three original volumes are: “The Soul Rider: A Surfer’s Perspective of the World” (1992); “The Soul Rider II: Neptune’s Dream” (1995); and “Sea-Soaked Heart” (2004). All rights are reserved by the author.”

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The Soul Rider

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Ari Marsh As smooth as a bird in flight the Soul Rider takes off… becoming one with the wave his Spirit meshes with the rolling liquid creation sent forth from the Mother of the Ocean. Streaking harmoniously in the mouth of the wave, he is like the pelican— smooth and graceful, calm and peaceful. His body poised and relaxed, his mind sharp and aware, constantly adjusting his line, centering his energy, deeper and deeper into the heart of the wave until one can no longer tell them apart. — Excerpted from Vol. 1: The Soul Rider Editor’s Note: In our May issue we omitted a line from our viewpoint stating the writer Jason Weber had been inspired for his article by the poems of Ari Marsh. We believe that the writing was more than inspired by the poems of Ari Marsh, and certain words were taken from his poems. So in the interest of the original writer, we are highlighting his work in our June issue. Ari Marsh can be reached at soulrider68@gmail.com. His work can be viewed online at www.cdbaby.com/Artist/AriMarsh and www.youtube.com/arimarsh Photo Credits: Surfing photos of Ari Marsh by Kenny Onufrock. Sunset portait by Dario Berrini

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“With a powerful, thundering bellow, the ocean calls to me. With a soft, meek smile and a fiberglass stick, I answer her.” --The Soul Rider (from Vol. I)

M I N D S TAT E S

Pure California Gold by Ari Marsh

Diamond shining gleaming blue water waves peel across the sun-drenched beaches of soulful Leucadia in North San Diego County. I soar and dance along these feathering liquid swells adorned with glistening sunbeams. O, to dart in such a manner across the oceanic spectrum of time and space while the planet revolves and orbits the sun… while the moon’s gravity pulls the tides… while stars implode and explode and the universe itself expands, ever engaged in flux and movement. Yea, I travel, though not far in apparent physical distance, merely across a wave upon a stick of fiberglass, yet to sublime mental and spiritual destinations. Born of this diamond draped sea I am. Born of this sacred, bejeweled sea I am!

Gliding upon these smooth and perfect waves I come to know myself again as the sun begins its descent into tomorrow. My classic single-fin surfboard is now the superb instrument of my presently uncaged and newly freed soul, the two fused together harmoniously through the grace of my youthful flesh. Aye, to dance and paint upon the stage of water, to live a dream while yet awake, to experience the glories of heaven while yet on earth. In fact, to leave the earth and let the human die, to live, to fly—for a time, like pelican through air like porpoise through water. To cast one’s otherwise marred identity into the delicate flames of water smoothed with gentle, warm sunlight. Ultimately, to change oneself, never to be the same again. It is in these moments that I come to know my Self, my nature, my purpose, if only for the superconscious moments of my rides. Again, to leave the earth and become more than human more than amphibian, a creative being who dances upon the ever-moving water like a living god.

In this sun-glistened ocean was I born. In this land where waves break over shifting sands, where light and motion play as one, have I found pure California gold. And in the delicate, yet radical movements of board upon wave, of bright yellow rail upon smooth blue ocean have I experienced life at its fullest. For here upon the ever-rolling, ever-recurring, time-tapered swells of moving water— energy traversing sea and thus forming wave— man is elevated to pure physics, atoms, particles, once again consciously and perfectly enmeshed in the cosmic scheme of Creation. Upon these diamond shining, gleaming, perfect, blue water waves that peel across these ancient, sun-drenched beaches… I am. Hear me life, I am. Hear me God, for I am here now. Hear me God, for I am life. Hear me, hear me, I am! — Leucadia, CA, May 2001

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C U LT U R E

A True Alternative in Educational Revolution on the Horizon When Leeway Sudbury School Opens Its Doors in September by Michelle Hackney

“I

feel like I’m being put in a little box. There are too many rules in the classroom and I feel stressed out about third grade. I need to be able to do things my way sometimes.” “They’re turning us into zombies. It’s my senior year and I feel like nothing I’m learning is really preparing me for anything but test taking. I wish I was trusted with more freedom to be myself.” This is what two local students said when interviewed about their feelings toward school. Unfortunately they are not alone. A study conducted through the Indiana University’s High School Survey of Student Engagement (HSSSE) showed that two out of three high school students said that they are bored in class every single day. About 25 percent of the participating students indicated they are bored due to lack of interaction with teachers, and 75 percent reported that the material being taught is not interesting. The HSSSE reached more than 81,000 students in 110 high schools across 26 states. It included only schools that chose to participate and represented a widerange of socio-economic levels and race. The survey also showed that: 73 percent of students didn’t like school; 61 percent didn’t like the teachers; 60 percent didn’t see the value in the work they were being asked to do; and 25 percent felt that no adults in the school cared about them. In their responses, student participants explained that they feel they are not taken seriously, that their concerns and interests are not focused on, and no action comes from what they do and say. They also indicated that too much focus is placed on standardized testing, which doesn’t value creativity or diversity and also creates “winners” and “losers.” Perhaps the school system is too linear. Schools are obsessed with rigid timetables. Every lesson from first grade to high school is approximately 40 minutes long. Research shows that this allotted time interrupts the flow of natural creativity. The existing hierarchy of subjects in a linear school system may also be

Children and founders build sand castles at Leeway Park Day. Park Days are scheduled monthly and are featured on Meetup.org.

squelching diversity by putting more importance on certain disciplines over others. Cookie-cutter designs in education obviously aren’t working, and even schools that deem themselves “progressive” are still not offering complete freedom from the system. However, a possible answer is on the horizon when Leeway Sudbury School opens its doors in September and offers a true alternative here in San Diego. Leeway Sudbury School provides all students, ages 4 through 18, an environment where they are free to explore the world in their own unique ways. It is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit private school overseen by a Board of Advisors where people decide for themselves how to spend their days. The school operates by participatory self-governance in which students take responsibility for themselves within the larger school community. They acquire all the necessary skills to become self-directed, self-actualized individuals while obtaining the ability to deal with complex issues and ideas. This includes students with special needs. “Students with special needs often struggle with feelings of self-worth and are constantly told that the way they behave and communicate is wrong and are placed within the same curricular structure as their neurotypical peers,” says Brandon Wolfe, who is currently a candidate at the University of San Diego for an M.E.d. in Special Education. “The Sudbury model gives all children, including those with special needs, the autonomy to live their own life and allows them to create the structure that works best for them, and as a result, positive behaviors become the norm.” The energy that created Leeway started with two women, Alexandra DiMarco and Becky Wheelock, both mothers and teachers who decided San Diego needed an alternative to traditional coercive education. Over the years, people from all over the county have shared their vision of a school that values children’s autonomy above all else and have joined in their efforts to manifest it. Brandon Wolfe, Claire Thiemann, and Aine Sheridan are helping to carry this vision and have joined DiMarco’s and Wheelock’s efforts as Board members, cofounders, and Leeway staff.

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C U LT U R E “Having been a Montessori teacher and director, I was drawn to the Sudbury model of education by my observance of the child’s need for freedom to explore when, how, and where he or she is drawn; freedom to interact with others or be in solitude; freedom to sit, to think, to create, when the internal impetus is calling them to do so; freedom to learn in any way the child chooses,” says Alexandra DiMarco. “This allows the child to stay connected to their own internal guidance and is part of who we are naturally. While current progressive systems espouse to ‘follow the child,’ they still imply a distrust of the child’s ability to know what’s best for themselves.” The fundamental premises of Sudbury are simple: all people are (Left to right) Back row: Brandon Wolfe, curious by nature; the most efficient, Aine Sheridan, Alexandra DiMarco, long-lasting, and profound learning Becky Wheelock; Front row: Claire takes place when started and pursued Thiemann, Ari Bagelatos by the learner; all people are creative if they are allowed to develop their unique talents; age-mixing among students promotes growth in all members of the group; and freedom is essential to the development of personal responsibility. “Human beings are born with a natural sense of curiosity and a real hunger for learning,” says Claire Thiemann. “Infants learn to walk and talk on their own, and they do so with incredible focus and perseverance. Children take their play as seriously as adults take their work. They will challenge themselves without being told to do so, and they will surprise us with what they accomplish. When we allow that innate enthusiasm for life to grow unobstructed, amazing things can happen.” In practice this means that students at Leeway initiate all of their own activities and create their own environments. Students are not obsessed about learning the right thing at the right time. Doing what they choose to do is the common theme; learning is the byproduct. The staff and the equipment are there for the students to use as the need arises. “One misconception is that it’s easier than public schools because no one is telling the children what to do, but if you think about it, it’s much easier to follow orders all day,” says Becky Wheelock. “Making decisions is a difficult part of life and students at Leeway are going to get really good at it because they’ll always have the freedom to learn from experience. I’ve taught at the high school and college level and I recognize that my students were far more challenged when they chose their topics of learning and had to pave the path for themselves.” The business of the school is managed by the weekly “School Meeting” at which

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each student and staff member has one vote. Rules of behavior, use of facilities, expenditures, staff hiring, and all the routines of running an institution are determined by debate and vote at the School Meeting. At Leeway, students fully share the responsibility for effective operation of the school and for the quality of life. Leeway follows the “Sudbury model,” which is actually not a radical new concept. Each school is a grassroots organization founded by parents and members of the community. The first school of its kind, Sudbury Valley School, opened in Framingham, Massachusetts in 1968 and is still running strong. Since then, schools have opened around the nation and in other countries such as Belgium, Denmark, Germany, and Japan. “It’s a very different type of learning environment. The students are lively and energetic and happy to be there—not what you find at other schools outside of recess,” says Aine Sheridan, who worked at Diablo Valley (Sudbury) School in Northern California for seven years. “I’ve also worked in traditional and progressive schools and in the mental health field and I’ve never experienced learning the way I did at Diablo Valley. The students enjoy being there, but they learn far more quickly and efficiently when they are ready to acquire new skills. They become creators of knowledge, not merely consumers of it. I also had the privilege of watching children grow into some of the most articulate, intelligent, independent, and mature people I have ever met. Students learned that if they wanted something, they had to go out and get it—that no one was going to do it for them. But I also think that they were more likely to ask for help when they needed it because they knew they weren’t going to be judged for it. We didn’t have these artificial standards that we held kids to and allowed kids to make mistakes so they never stressed over something like grades. I am excited that children will have that same opportunity here at Leeway.” Leeway Sudbury School maintains a policy of nondiscrimination on the basis of race, color, sex or gender identity, religion, national origin, disability, and sexual orientation. Leeway will be opening its doors in September in Linda Vista at 2202 Comstock St., San Diego, CA 92111. To learn more about Leeway Sudbury School and to inquire about enrollment, visit www.leewaysudburyschool.org or call 619.900.4436. Michelle Hackney is a human rights activist who, for the past nine years, has been using her writing as a voice for global awareness. She also enjoys outdoor adventures with her children and husband. –Photos: Johanna Pake JP Photography 1505 49th St. San Diego, CA 92102

Specializing in In-Home Funerals Also Offering Direct Cremation & Burial Options

Honors a Rite of Passage • Holistic & Earth Friendly • Alternative Approach Creates Healing & Closure • Increases Family Involvement

Serving San Diego Communities

Phone 619.358.9254

Email info@thresholds.us • Web www.thresholds.us W W W.VI S I O N M AG A Z I N E .C O M • J U N E 2 012 • VI S I O N M AG A Z I N E

JUNE 2012 FORECAST By Adrienne Abeyta

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.

Aries: Empress (6 of Pentacles) 3/21–4/19 Generosity is what makes the world go round. This may be a little idealistic, but it’s still an ideal worth striving for. It can also be said that love is an extension of generosity, especially when it’s given without expecting it to be returned. How do you share your love? Do you give only to those you know will give it back? Notice your feelings when you offer love and kindness. You’ll realize that you are the one who benefits most from giving. This month brings you a situation in which letting go is the highest expression of love.

Libra: Justice (King of Cups) 9/23 – 10/23 Choosing to participate actively in your life engenders a feeling of well-being and confidence. The temptation to shirk responsibility by avoidance or dependence will only lead to complex problems. Over the years, you’ve developed a keen sense of what you consider to be morally right and wrong. When faced with an issue, you must trust and use the guidance of this moral compass to evaluate the situation fairly. Although your feelings may sometimes lean in favor of the easy road, you must find a balance between the two. Remember that an emotionally charged mind makes for a discontented heart.

Taurus: Death (4 of Swords) 4/20 – 5/21 Ever notice how your moods color your perceptions? When you’re in a bad mood, nothing seems to go right; when you’re in a good mood, little things don’t bother you. What if you could look at every situation and choose your feelings rather than reacting from your current mood? Well, first, you’d need to take stock of your attitudes, especially the subconscious ones. Next time you react to a situation, really ask yourself if you even believe the chatter in your head. To change your life, you must change your outlook. Start small, ask for help, and be who you say you are.

Scorpio: Chariot (5 of Pentacles) 10/24 – 11/22 Emotions can energize you, keeping you involved in the moment, or they can control, consume, and even threaten you. It’s not really the emotion per se, but your response to it that drives you. You must practice maintaining control of your reactions and discipline over your mind if you are to conquer your ego. Ego is the “I” that is easily offended by not getting its way, whereas Self is the driver that can always see a higher path. You’re causing yourself stress by focusing on problems. Go confidently in the direction of the solution and don’t take yourself so seriously.

Gemini: Lovers (10 of Swords) 5/22 – 6/21 It has been said, “Tell me whom you love and I will tell you who you are.” Life is a network of relationships. Your preferences in people, entertainment, work, clothes, etc. reveal a lot about you. More importantly, things you don’t like and avoid also reveal information. However, this information is often hidden from even you. Something or someone will trigger an ugly side of you, but before acting impetuously, ask yourself what you’re really feeling and how it fits with the picture you have of yourself. While there’s still an uncomfortable decision to be made, at least it will be a conscious one.

Sagittarius: Magician (10 of Pentacles) 11/23 – 12/21 Self-confidence has its positives and negatives like anything else, but confidence without humility can be dangerous. There is a thin line between feeling good about yourself and believing that you’re better than others. Unfortunately, importance tends to be measured by what one possesses, be it material, knowledge, or experience. Confidence rooted in love and acceptance never needs to prove its value. Being true to yourself and others will afford you an abundant life. A successful opportunity is available this month if you can temper the desire for instant gratification. Your success will come as a result of enhancing another’s.

Cancer: High Priestess (5 of Wands) 6/22 – 7/22 Problems, trials, and obstacles, oh my! Ever think about how much energy these consume and how distracting they are? There must be something important about them or you wouldn’t spend so much time getting caught up in them. Take a moment to evaluate how many of your problems are a reflection of your fears. Notice how you keep ending up in situations that mirror your inner struggles. When you’re confused, you create confusion around you. To get clear about the meaning of your struggles, tune in to your thoughts and feelings. Step back from the drama and listen to your inner voice.

Capricorn: Hanged Man (2 of Cups) 12/22 – 1/20 Relationships are like a revolving door in life; where one person disappears, another emerges. Why make yourself dizzy chasing someone who wants to leave? You must close the door to the past before entering the door opening today. Sadness, like water, should flow. Don’t get stuck in self-pity. It’s natural to outgrow relationships, and holding on to someone because of shared history keeps you stuck in the past. As hard as you try, you cannot force someone to feel what you feel. Take time to reflect on which relationships you need to let go of. If you’re tired of waiting, then stop.

Leo: World (Knight of Cups) 7/23 – 8/23 The desire for unity is at the core of all longing. We all desire a connection to something greater than ourselves. This might take the form of a relationship, a creative or humanitarian endeavor, or a quest for self-healing. All of these rely on the same principle of love and allow you to share and express love. A feeling of inspiration this month will lead you to begin a new journey. Don’t worry if at first it feels unreal. The result is not as important as the process. You need to find closure about something you’re holding on to.

Aquarius: Devil (King of Swords) 1/21 – 2/18 Control and perfectionism are illusions, and they’re major obstacles to personal growth. To live in the illusion that you can avoid failure is like believing you are immortal. There’s no way, nor should there be, to escape disappointment. In fact, bigger life lessons come from failure than from success, as does your character. Notice how you are denying your personhood by presenting a false impression of yourself. You’ve become trapped in a façade. Strip it away and get real, even if it makes you vulnerable and ugly. Learn to laugh at yourself because the truth is, others probably are.

Virgo: Moon (Knight of Wands) 8/24 – 9/22 Emotions need to be recognized and accepted in order to be resolved. When denied and ignored, they defeat you and inevitably grow bigger, or worse, you come across them in others. Have the courage to encounter your scariest feelings: anger; jealousy; regret; shame; and despair. Giving attention to them actually takes away their sting. Don’t allow fear to rob you of this journey. You’ve got some buried treasures underneath all the yuck. Yet to find them and enrich your life, you must dare to go into the abyss. For those traveling this month, be careful and trust your intuition about new people and places.

Pisces: Judgment (7 of Swords) 2/19 – 3/20 Spiritual awakenings reveal a power greater than yourself. This could come as an experience of God or perhaps an awesome experience of oneness. Either way, the mind must be subdued and surrendered. Self-destructive tendencies litter the path to this awakening. In order to reach some measure of clarity, you must clear the path. Begin by taking responsibility for your part in your problems. If another has betrayed you, forgive them and yourself for fostering toxic emotions. Instead of blaming others, be honest about how you’ve participated. No one said awakening was easy; look at how many prefer to asleep!

Becoming Who YOU Are! Adrienne Abeyta, Sacred - Self Coaching

Using Astrology, Numerology, & Tarot to discover the hero in your life story. Answering the questions:

• 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 18

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C U LT U R E

The Cultural Shift

Equation: Equal Rights + Justice = Peace by Brennan Lagasse

merican culture is shifting. Global culture is shifting. One only needs to tune in to current happenings in the States and abroad to realize a majority of people on this planet are not happy with business as usual. The Occupy Wall Street (OWS) movements, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) protests in Chicago, and the civil rights issue of our time in the United States, gay marriage, all speak to massive shifts in terms of what is culturally relevant and culturally important in 2012. While it’s no secret that people who live status quo realities are reluctant to change, deconstructing what has been acceptable in the past and looking towards a brighter future for all is really what lies at the core of these massive cultural shifts for justice. The great reggae artist Peter Tosh once sang, “I don’t want no peace, I need equal rights and justice.” This one line to the song “Equal Rights” is a direct connection to what’s happening both domestically and across the planet as people who support measures for the well-being of all are realizing that without equal rights and justice there will never be peace. It’s a simple yet profound thought. While there continues to be great disconnects between the many social, environmental, political, and economic movements worldwide, it’s the cultural shifts centered in this song and found throughout these present-day actions that all point to people slowly but surely inching towards a realization that ‘holistic sustainability’ is such a path. Like many others, I started my path of deconstruction by learning from past social movements and acts of dissidence organized around an argument for peace. It seems simple enough, right? We all want peace, so maybe we should be vocal about topics like ending the war in Afghanistan, global nuclear disarmament, and proper allocation of economic means to support low-income individuals and families. Actually, yes, that core message grounded in peace and supporting these important causes is still spot-on, but in truly grasping the message of Mr. Tosh’s song, and the cultural shifts taking place today, we must recognize that in order for peace to be obtained, we must work for and support all efforts that promote equal rights and justice. Think about it like this. You can be a peaceful warrior, traveling amongst your day-to-day existence, preaching, teaching, and practicing peace. It’s a very important and essential way of being that allows you to try and be the change you wish to see in the world. However, at some point the shift that must take place is in recognizing that if humanity is able to live with a universal sense of equal rights—which, by definition, would be ‘just’—respecting that, for example, one woman’s definition of equality in Oakland, CA might be different from another woman’s definition of equality in Egypt, peace will actually be realized as a byproduct. Essentially, the great grassroots movements currently taking place all over the world are shifting towards a global-cultural outlook that points to exactly that. There will always be detractors it seems, especially when the systems of politics and governance continue to organize society in the manner that they have. But at some point we must all nurture the belief that in striving for equal rights and justice, the peaceful world many of us want to see and believe in can, in fact, be a reality. What those of us who support this message of holistic sustainability argue—people who push for actualized, sustainable means of economic justice, social well-being, and ecosystem health—is for continued growth of these mass social movements

across the globe. It has only been the people, specifically marginalized people, who have taken a stand against systems and regimes of extraordinary wealth and power that have brought about salient cultural shifts in the past, which align with the ones we are seeing today. The detractors are always slow to come around because change is scary to them, especially if that change means they will lose a sense of their wealth and power. If you critically analyze those that lack affinity with the social movement in Egypt saying, “So now what are they going to do without a leader?” or regarding the OWS movements saying, “They have no organization or cohesive message,” you’ll see that those are people that stand to lose something with social change—power, wealth, and privilege. Chances are they work in some way to support inherently unjust economic and political systems, and there’s an even better chance that they are financially well-off enough that any change would undermine their personal definition of well-being. The truth is that the detractors all stand to lose something from these movements, and it scares them. The cultural shifts across the contiguous United States, in Europe, and in the Middle East are all scary because marginalized people are organizing to express a clear discontent with the way things are. Excuses are made to make it seem as though business as usual is great, it’s the way, and ultimately it’s “what’s made this country [the United States] great.” Moreover, they’ll argue it’s the protesters’, activists’, and dissidents’ fault that they are unhappy. Is it? The next time you hear someone poking fun of the appearance of a protester as a way to demean them, or trying to cite a religious text to define marriage as a way to spread homophobic propaganda, think about what that person stands to gain and lose in terms of the inevitable cultural shifts of the present day. While we must continued on page 41

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C U LT U R E

Shifting Culture Through a Poetic Framework by Brad Hachten

Old stories of past prodigies, which had not found much confirmation in recent experience, now became credible. —Thucydides, The Peloponnesian War

ere we are, midway through the year 2012 that, for whatever the reason, captured a place in the collective imagination to be a year of prophecy. Given the seemingly insurmountable challenges to our democratic society—the specter of global climate change, for example—I argue it’s both fitting and proper that we look to the fulfillment of prophecy as a means to seeking divine guidance. After all, as Jesus essentially put it (see the biblical book of Luke, 17:20-1), don’t look that way or this way: heaven on earth lies within you. You. Me. For those waiting for Jesus to ride down on a cloud and save the day, let me say, let’s not abandon the possibility. As a matter of fact, I knew a man in Eugene, Oregon on the poetry circuit who looked like Jesus, happened to be Jewish, and as a truly passionate guy, seemed to me to be a true poet. If I run into him again, I’ll ask him flat out, “Has it ever occurred to you that you might be the second coming of Christ?” But whether we’re leading the way or preparing the way, we can never justify inaction, much as the contemporary Christian leader Rick Warren asserts in his widely read book, “The Purpose Driven Life.” There’s a good argument, however, that the truth lies in the poetry of our

sacred texts, and it is from the realm of poetry that we can look to for its game-changing role toward our salvation. Because developments in neuroscience have demonstrated that the ability to reason is inseparable from emotion, we have to contend with the same human passions that have lent themselves to destruction throughout human history. It’s to our advantage to think outside of our era for resolutions. Thinking Outside of the Modern Mindset In Plato’s “Republic,” Socrates cites an “ancient argument,” or difference, between poetry and philosophy (i.e., mythos and logos) that I suggest continues to this day. While the term ‘myth’ has become generally synonymous as something that’s dismissively untrue, a more accurate and working definition can be as follows: the stories a society tells about itself. Furthermore, the modern mindset often fails to distinguish between religion, an institution, and the mythos. The term ‘narrative’ is currently en vogue—the term I shall employ—and is similarly used to describe how an individual or group sees itself in relation to the world body. While I make reference in this article to the Christian faith and the context of Western culture, my concern here is the moral culture in our democratic society in the United States. Religion is only one aspect of this moral culture, and as a pluralistic country of many religions, my vision is informed and enriched by a diversity of faith traditions. Yet I believe that what takes root and grows in the collective imagination matters. So much has been made of Jesus in the religious sense—being a prophet, the messiah, the savior, the Christ—that we’re apt to forget a more grounded sense that Jesus of Nazareth was also, essentially, a poet. The use of metaphor and symbolism in his parables—short stories that convey a deeper truth—testify to this. Following his crucifixion, his own life would become a moving story and a powerful symbol that captures our imagination to this day. A More Vital Role for the Arts Having brought Jesus down to earth, in the poetic sense, that is, we can get back to you and me and moving on to this business about the meek inheriting the earth. As we weigh in on this “ancient argument” between poetry and philosophy, we turn some attention to the renowned modern philosopher Martin Heidegger who tells us that philosophy is limited (see his famous quote, “Only a God can save us.”); we have to look to poetry to bring us home. Whereas a reason-based approach attempts to use reason so that others may change their feelings, a poetry-based approach attempts to change their feelings so that they may better reason. Essentially, we’d be expanding on the American poet Walt Whitman’s vision toward change. Yet Whitman had to contend with the limitations of poetry as art in the modern era. But by expanding on Whitman’s approach to create a poetic framework in which to inject the integrated arts, including poetry as art, we can potentially transcend the modern era. Currently we’re in the midst of what can be described as a spiritual crisis that I’ll define here, simply, as the inability of its members to rise above narrow interests and act on behalf of the collective good. The use of reason, education, and science are important applications but limited in their effect. The arts, in their present mode, pose more as a means of escapism and distraction from the crisis at hand.

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rhythm to action. The action, or activism, I would expect is toward culturally transformative change to sustainability: from the individual acting in conflict with others and nature toward a movement of the individual acting in concert with others and nature. A poetic approach, I believe, would well serve current efforts toward sustainability such as the international Transition Movement. The use of a poetic framework (symbol, metaphor, narrative) that artists, activists, and other participants can creatively make as their own would be capable of weaving mutually beneficial relationships. The overarching metaphor I propose is that we, as a society, have to shift from the land of the dead to the land of the living. It comes in part from a quote attributed to the American playwright Thornton Wilder: “There’s a land of the living and the land of the dead, and the bridge is love.” This is the bridge we have to create. The narrative I propose we draw on is the parable of the prodigal son, much as the evolutionary biologist, David Sloan Wilson, describes it in his book, “Evolution for Everyone”: “Our conception of ourselves as set apart from the rest of nature is a bit like the prodigal son leaving home with an enormous inheritance. The repeated collapse of past civilizations and the uncertain fate of our own is like squandering our inheritance on a profligate life.” The parable is particularly useful because we can draw on the participatory arts of music and dance to promote the narrative, providing a new kind of public demonstration with certain advantages over the warmed-over 1960s approach. How the Meek Can Inherit the Earth There is no shame in the pursuit and the accruing of wealth and status. Who among us has not pursued either? While self-interest is part of human nature, it’s not the totality of our nature. Potentially more powerful than self-interest, a person inherently wants his or her life to be imbued with a sense of purpose beyond his or her individual existence. By taking a poetic approach, we can better tap into the

power of the soul. In the pursuit of wealth and status, or wealth and power, the problem comes when it acts in conflict with others and nature. In this respect, we’re contending with cultural transformation and the ideologies that lend themselves to destruction, rather than shaming individuals for acting out their human nature. While shaming won’t help us build that bridge, we nevertheless should recognize that shame is part of the human dynamic because we’re social beings. By promoting a collective narrative that invites others to join us in our move from the land of the dead to the land of the living, on a deeper level, we’re challenging the truthfulness of the other narratives of how others see themselves. Of course, one is free to reject the narrative, but by rejecting it they also cast themselves into it, forcing them to confront the truth of submitting their lives to be part of the problem or part of the solution: pride or spirit. Pride, for this purpose, is setting oneself apart from others and nature. Persons of greater stature than my own have called for a collective narrative to induce change. In his book, “Changing Minds,” Harvard’s Howard Gardner calls for a similar approach, though in the context of coming from a top-down political leadership position. This would be coming from the bottom-up, leaderless position. As for myself, I’m a maladapted poet sharing a vision. But if narrative does capture the collective imagination, I expect it will have the effect as Jesus stated (see the biblical book of Matthew 23:12): “Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, but whoever humbles himself will be exalted.” While the culture of consumption will decline, another culture of contribution will rise up with a level of community spirit currently unimagined. As I see it, the meek inheriting the earth comes from humility, not passivity; it comes from action and it will come from passion, as in the passion of Christ. Here I return to the story of Christ accepting the cross. Slaying the Dragon The hoarding dragon of Western myth is representative of the fatal human passion of greed, in both power and wealth, that no amount of power or possession can continued on page 41

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HEALING ARTS

Vertical Gardening: Shifting Towards Self-Sustainability. A Conversation with Jason Cushnie by Sydney L. Murray

here are those moments in life where you realize a certain tool or a train of thought is going to literally change your life. I had met Jason Cushnie and invited him to share our booth at Earth Day. Hearing him tell the shift this one product has made in his life was awe-inspiring. My husband and I have gardens at our home and I know the work that they take with the tilling and composting, water, etc. Cushnie showed me that with the vertical garden I could produce more fruits and vegetables in a smaller space than in our two gardens combined. Recently Cushnie learned he was going to be part of the largest aeroponics farm in the world, which is in the hills of Jamaica outside of Montego Bay. His passion for this product knows no bounds. I believe that (after having lived in New York City and Tokyo) that this invention will change the way we live. If you live in a city and get light in your apartment, you can grow your own produce, and vegetables, and herbs. Vision Magazine: Our theme this month is Cultural Shift. How do you see our society changing? Jason Cushnie: I see more and more people shifting towards home gardening and growing their own food, and saving money in the process. They become healthier and more conscious as they consume organically grown foods. VM: Do you believe we are shifting towards self-sustainability? JC: People are beginning to realize that “bad food” (non-organic) is poison that is damaging themselves and their families. The savings that one gains from organic, home farming goes far beyond monetary savings. It also saves in terms of health and wellness. Self-sustainability is the obvious next step into the future of food production. It provides a safe, healthy alternative to the pesticide-ridden foods currently on the market. You as the consumer control the amount and type of organic or inorganic fertilizer, and what, if any, chemicals you use on your crops. VM: How was the vertical garden developed? JC: After years of research and development with many prototypes, the Airgrown Tower finally came into being. Applying aeroponic technology developed by NASA, the Airgrown system uses no soil and grows the root systems in the air. With the Airgrown vertical aeroponic growing system, plants grow up to 45 percent faster than in traditional in-soil farming methods. Plants also yield cleaner, safer, tastier, and

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Air Grown Tower, 3 weeks later, produce!

more aromatic produce. VM: How was the aeroponic technology developed? JC: Sustainable Garden Supply, Inc. (SGS) markets the Airgrown vertical aeroponic growing system, a revolutionary plant-growing system that creates tremendous benefits to the consumer, the personal gardener, and the farming industry. This innovative system was born out of the desire of founders Robert Simmons and Marc Brown to provide their families with cleaner, safer, tastier vegetables. After four years of research and experimenting with different growing methods, including hydroponics, the one-of-a-kind Airgrown growing system was created. Initial prototypes were developed for the residential market, and from their success came the inspiration for the commercial design, which is rapidly gaining international exposure. Aeroponics is an improvement in artificial life support for non-damaging plant support, seed germination, environmental control, and rapid unrestricted

growth (in comparison with hydroponics and drip irrigation techniques that have been used for decades by traditional agriculturalists). This comes after having finely tuned the system to increase output while reducing the cost of nutrients and maintenance of the actual system. VM: Please tell me the difference in output between traditional farming and aeroponic farming. JC: Aeroponic farming has a massive increase in the production of produce per plant and per square foot. The Airgrown system fosters plant growth rates of 45 percent greater than traditional Jason Cushnie in-soil farming, uses 75 percent less horizontal space, provides for 99 percent utilization of water and nutrients, and produces superior quality, better tasting, more aromatic products. You can’t find a more eco-friendly and efficient plant-growing system that uses no more water or nutrients than what is required by the plants, and has no need for herbicides or pesticides if grown in a greenhouse. VM: Why do the vegetables and produce taste better than organic or homegrown produce or vegetables? JC: The increased rate of oxygen being provided to the root zones paired with hydro-atomization makes the plants have a much more intense flavor. As long as the nutrients provided to the system are organic, you will have 100 percent USDA-certified organic produce. Good food is good medicine, bad food is bad medicine—your own food is the best medicine. VM: What has been your experience with the vertical garden? JC: My experience with vertical gardening has been an exciting one, as I continued on page 40

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F E AT U R E

Matrix Energetics: A Paradigm Shift A Conversation with Dr. Richard Bartlett and Melissa Joy by Sydney L. Murray

ften when I talk to Richard Bartlett, his mind and his thoughts are so inspiring and profound that it sometimes takes days for me to assimilate what we have discussed. He has met his match in copresenter Melissa Joy. They are the proverbial dynamic duo. Vision Magazine: Our theme this month is Cultural Shift. Where do you think we are at in terms of our culture shifting? Dr. Richard Bartlett: I think the culture is getting stupider, for sure. My favorite TV shows have been canceled. There was one about a parallel universe, which was quite an intelligent show. And they put Howard Stern on “America’s Got Talent,” and I’m not sure America has talent. And they certainly don’t have brains. VM: What do you think, Melissa? Melissa Joy: I would partially agree with Richard, but I would also say at the same time there is a significant, I’ll use the word ‘awakening,’ for lack of a better word, going on within the culture, and people are becoming more aware that the political systems are not necessarily what they thought they were, our medical systems are not what they thought they were, our educational system is not meeting the needs of our children. And I think there is an overall cultural waking-up that is taking place that is very, very exciting. Not withstanding what’s going on with television. RB: I think that’s 1 percent of 1 percent of 1 percent of the population. However, that 1 percent of 1 percent of 1 percent could be enough to change everything. VM: If there would be one simple way that someone could shift their life, what would that be? MJ: To let go of their beliefs. RB: I would agree with that. Question your beliefs, write them down on paper, and then say, “Why do I believe that, when did I begin to believe that, who told me that, and what are those voices in my head that tell me to believe that?” And then doubt it. VM: It’s so interesting to see some of the experiences people have at a Matrix Energetics seminar. And that’s one of the dominant things that people say, that they were open to new parts of the world and their lives. How does that happen? RB: I’m not sure how it happens, but just yesterday I had a gentleman on stage named Paul, and he wanted to change a feeling of being lost. And so we worked with him with something called [Means], which Melissa and I teach in Level 3. And when we got done, he was not lost anymore. He didn’t remember where he was, he didn’t remember why he was standing up there, and actually when he went back to his chair, he couldn’t remember where he was sitting. So that was definitely a shift for him. VM: And the people you work with definitely say their body has changed. The feeling of it has changed. MJ: I think the feeling around their entire reality changes, just by virtue of

being in the field of Matrix Energetics, which is based on what is possible, not what is not possible. And when you open up to that awareness, it lets you recognize that there are different choices that you could be making, just by virtue of shifting your perception. So I think, really, what happens when people come to a seminar is that they start to see the blocks that they’re in, and they realize they are not blocks, they are so much more than that, and they become more open to what’s possible and available for them. RB: They don’t think their way out of their dilemmas. And they don’t really change by thinking or feeling differently. They are different. And then that difference at their core bubbles up from their center and changes the periphery or their life, and then they begin to notice. VM: Because that’s the matrix; that’s the field that you shift. And are you constantly shifting it? Do you have to bring it back? RB: I don’t do anything; the field owns me. MJ: Once you’re connected with the field, it is always with you. It’s non-local; it’s above space-time. It is not that it requires you to constantly shift it back or bring it back. Sometimes there is a lack of awareness of its presence, and so sometimes you may need to reconnect with that knowingness that it’s there and it’s available. And that sometimes just comes with practice. It’s always there. Once you connect with it—even if you don’t attend a seminar, even if you are just exposed to it in a book or an article in a magazine—once that connection is made, you have access to it from any place in your awareness. VM: I What is some of the new research, if you’re aware of any, that’s supporting Matrix Energetics’ teachings? RB: Well it’s not really new research. It’s been going on for at least 50 years or more. But the torsion field of physics research in Russia is probably closer than anything I’ve seen to the model of what Matrix Energetics appears to be about. And that model, inherent within it, is consciousness, and then consciousness adds torsion waves of information that then become super-charged to the point where it becomes not a potential, but it becomes an actuality. And so that’s why I continually delineate between virtual reality and actual reality. I actually do not believe that there is just one reality, that these realities are virtual. And as you change the spin at your core, it changes the information that makes up your universe, and then that reflects out into physical changes that you’re able to observe. VM: With quantum physics, we’re all connected; we’re just a sea of energy, essentially. RB: And what’s great is you don’t even have to see it to be in it. In fact, we’re in it all time. All parts of it, really, are dissolved into a oneness. And the illusion

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of separateness is exactly that: there is no separateness in this entire universe. The physicists view it as a continuum, and we are all part of that continuum, moving toward constant awareness of that connection. MJ: We sense that the quantum physics model only partially explains what may be going on with Matrix Energetics. While it’s older research, but it’s more recently come to the forefront [that] the torsion physics more readily explains the phenomenon that we witness with Matrix Energetics. VM: I just remember Richard talking about that there are different matrices. A sports team is a matrix. Or a TV show. RB: That is a morphic field. And those morphic fields, again, are a budding idea or a seed that spins in the center of a vortex, and then that seed generates like resonance with other vortexes that then begin to resonate together, that create a larger and larger effect that then creates a continuous field of information that is specific to the resonance of that particular idea or subject or pattern. MJ: So there’s one unified field of consciousness, but then there are these sub-fields, or morphic fields, that are different expressions of that unified field. And that creates what we experience as distinctions in threedimensional reality. VM: It’s interesting, too, when you’re working with people and you do, I think you call it “skimming,” kind of feeling their bodies. It just seems to me like you shift the energy, but you shift the field? RB: We don’t really talk about energy anymore in Matrix Energetics, because the idea of energy is outmoded. Because what I think really is happening is we are shifting awareness, which then changes the charge on potential, and then potential is activated at a certain level, which then creates a release of what you might call energy. But that release of energy is more of a phenomenon than the actual thing itself. The thing itself is potential that is unexpressed until the moment of recognition or observation. MJ: We really describe the experience of Matrix Energetics in terms of being about light, information, and resonance, where you as a being of light move out and interact with information or patterns of information. And

“What’s interesting about our audience is that there is no typical seminar participant. We have a broad range of students that attend. While we do have some MDs, we have just as many domestic engineers and teachers and teenagers.”

then by virtue of being in resonance with a specific pattern of information, it is then expressed as energy in your reality. So the energy is the result of the resonance that you’ve established with a particular pattern of information. VM: And I was always interested in when you call it “consciousness technology,” but is there a technology? RB: Well there is a technology, because the morphic field of Matrix Energetics has been built like machinery or like software. I have put it together. What were doing was taking advantage of these scientific principles and then creating, very deliberately, a specific field that would resonate with the principles that we put together to allow for a certain set of outcomes in any given circumstance. VM: You spent years of studying to try to understand it, and then put together this technology? RB: Well the ideas themselves, once they link together, they become a technology. It’s not like I have to actually construct it. The thought of constructing it creates the whirlwind, and from the whirlwind creates the potential and from the potential comes the virtual reality that you could call a consciousness technology. VM: How have you seen your teachings change? RB: I started teaching this in 2003. I was very linear, very fundamental, very left-brained, very technique, in a sense, oriented. And now I am so free-flow, free-form; I never know what’s going to happen next. I started out this seminar with me wearing my Michael Keaton, exact copy of the Batman suit that he wore in the movie, playing out, “Start Me Up” on a Gibson guitar. VM: How has your experience changed since Melissa has come on board and started assisting you and teaching with you? RB: We’re like complementary particles of the same atom because we can read other’s thoughts, we can read each other’s faces, where we pause and if we just are patient, the one will fulfill the other’s thought. We’re both equally trusting in the field. Therefore, it’s like having a completeness, having a malefemale, yin-yang dynamic that completes the complementarity of the particle. It’s like the electron must have the proton. So we have that now. VM: And how has your life changed, Melissa? MJ: I’m laughing. How has my life not changed? Well I don’t even think I recognize the person that I used to be, although I can track back to how I used to approach particular situations or relationships, or even my reference of myself, in terms of how I felt about myself. My life has opened up in so many ways. I just know that I always have options. There are always choices available to me; I’m never stuck. I’ve committed my entire life, really, to growing this morphic field of Matrix Energetics, and expanding people’s awareness, one individual at a time. It’s a privilege and an honor and it’s a lot of responsibility, but I wouldn’t trade it for the world. VM: Like you always said, you were meant to do it. MJ: I think so. I came to my first Matrix Energetics seminar and essentially continued on page 46

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F E AT U R E

Education: The Platform for Change A Conversation with Paul Stokstad by Sydney L. Murray

aharishi University offers the ultimate experience in education. I love learning, and the knowledge that there is an institution that allows not only your intellect to be cultivated but your spirit as well is inspiring. This campus offers the very best in education. My undergraduate and graduate education were intellectually stimulating but also very stressful. I envy the students that Paul Stokstad talks about at Maharishi University of Management, where they encourage their students to expand their minds before they fill them. I believe this learning institution is one of the most important educational centers in our country. At Maharishi School of Management, they not only teach the practical elements of a traditional degree program, but they also offer the tools to live a productive and fulfilling life. This is definitely a cultural shift in the area of education. Vision Magazine: What is the essence of consciousness-based education? Paul Stokstad: What we talk about is that we like to expand the container of knowledge before putting stuff in. Most people think that they have a certain amount of intelligence, a certain amount of awareness, and that’s what they get. As a matter of fact, as of age 16, we have the most neurons of all time in our life, so it’s downhill from there. It seems like an early time to be going downhill. Whereas, through this [type of ] meditation, there’s more clarity of mind, more awareness. Our original motto was: Knowledge is structured in consciousness. One of the phrases that Maharishi had was, “Knowledge is different in different states of consciousness.” And so the fact is, we are dealing with people who are normally only experiencing three states of consciousness: waking; sleeping; and dreaming. And the experience of the Transcendental Meditation program allows them to experience a fourth state of consciousness, which is called transcendental consciousness. And this state has certain physiological correlates. You can have someone in the other room, and we can tell whether they’re waking, sleeping, dreaming, or doing TM [Transcendental Meditation], because during TM, there are certain identifiable brain wave patterns. There are certain changes in the breath rate, the heart rate goes down, the skin conductance goes down. There are indications that there is increased physiological alertness. We see increased brain wave coherence during the practice. But we also start to see increased brain wave coherence in daily activity. So our view is that it’s not enough to just give people a bunch of knowledge and hope it sticks, but to actually expand the container of knowledge. So consciousness-based education means that we are cultivating all the traditional disciplines, certainly; but at the same time, we’re expanding the consciousness of the student. They have more room, more alertness, and more positivity about learning. I think you know when the student is stressed and tired and exhausted and they’ve been drinking all weekend, they’re not really going to absorb a lot Monday morning. That’s not our experience here. The students, in general, are oriented toward self-development, expansion of health and awareness. We look at the human individual as having the potential to be enlightened. But that’s not just, ‘Oh I’m feeling happy, I know a lot of stuff.’ No, we look at enlightenment

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as an actual state change of human experience, a fundamental change of their actual experience of life. So having that as a goal is a different paradigm of existence than most of Western society has. And I don’t know if you’ve looked at any of the early childhood development stuff, but they talk about different childhood development that kids go through. For example, the Bradshaw work on early development. They have a stage called “formal operations,” which is the operations that most people come into at maybe [age] 12 [years old] when their pre-fontal cortex comes online. And we look at this as being beyond formal operations. There are levels of consciousness a human individual can experience beyond what the everyday human is experiencing. If that’s the case, why not have an education where we don’t just prepare kids for jobs, we prepare them to be enlightened humans? And that’s a different view of education. It should not just be career-based. We prepare them to be full human beings. And the other thing is, considering the stress in the workplace and the likely changes in the workplace, I think most people nowadays don’t stay at a job forever. The kind of qualities that this meditation develops are the kind of things that employers say they want, like stability, ability to work with a team, and get along well with others. Usually when you get out of college and you go into a job, they say, ‘Fine, you’ve got a degree, now let’s talk about what you’re really going to do. What are you really going to accomplish?’ Usually, success in the workplace is built on the ability to get along with people, the ability to be flexible, to learn something new. Sometimes college is just training people to become a lifelong learner. We look at the skill of gaining enlightenment, of gaining more consciousness, as a skill that students should have as well. We don’t just say, ‘Okay, this is how smart you are, this is how awake you are, we’re going to stuff as much knowledge as we can in there.’ We say, ‘We also want to expand your consciousness while you’re here so that you can contain more knowledge.’ Now, that is the experiential level. There’s also the intellectual level. And without being heavy-handed, without being dogmatic, the view of life where consciousness is at the base, which parallels the quantum field view of life, where there’s more energy at higher levels—that view of life informs other disciplines. There’s a danger of becoming dogmatic, but you can use that worldview to reexamine other disciplines: How does this fit with some of the absolute theories of math? How does this fit with quantum theories? How does this fit with some of the most advanced aspects of current knowledge? You can, to a degree, compare this Vedic view of life to the Western Scientific Method view of life and come up with a holistic way to utilize these modern disciplines. So, to a degree, we have a consciousness that is a fundamental aspect of all disciplines. So that gives students a shorthand way to understand some of the more profound aspects of a discipline. We do have a consciousness-based program that is experiential, but to a degree, we sometimes will look at a discipline and, say, when Wordsworth was talking about: There I beheld the emblem of a mind That feeds upon infinity, that broods Over the dark abyss, intent to hear

F E AT U R E Its voices issuing forth to silent light In one continuous stream; a mind sustained By recognitions of transcendent power, (Prelude, Book 14, Line 70-75) he tends to write about these beautiful experiences—the students can relate based on their own experience. When, in physics, they start talking about the quantum levels, the unified field theories, the students say, ‘I don’t just understand it; I have some experience to relate to that.’ In our society, we could ask, what’s the real religion of our country? It’s actually Western science. Science has an amazing grip upon the intellectual community in our country. And the problem with Western science is it’s not complete knowledge. Because the very system of the philosophy of science does not allow for anything to be proven; it only allows for it to be supported. If you’ve ever dealt with an academic, they often don’t recognize truth; they only recognize supported theories. We, however, recognize what’s called the subjective means of gaining knowledge, because there are subjective levels of the human experience that are repeatable and that are absolute. Western science doesn’t accept that. The problem with Western science is incomplete study creates incomplete results. We have, for example, Western medicine, where they know how to shoot a bullet at something—and by the way, we’re going to damage the surrounding area. Thirty percent of hospital beds supposedly are filled by people who are recovering from cures. In other words, the cure itself causes ailments. Whereas Ayurvedic medicine doesn’t have side effects, it has side benefits because it’s more holistic. So in terms of our shift, we think we’re seeing a shift from facts-based knowledge to self-based knowledge. The individual does need facts, but the individual also needs to grow, to keep those facts in perspective. VM: How is Maharishi University different from other academic institutions? PS: In some ways it’s the same. And that can be surprising to people. We are not an improvisational, unstructured school. It’s actually hard work. People study in-depth Western knowledge. At the same time, we feel that perspective needs to be supported from the fundamental level, with what’s developed in terms of the student’s consciousness. VM: And for people who aren’t aware, could you define Transcendental Meditation for them? PS: Transcendental Meditation is easily defined by the name. First of all, lets talk about the ‘M’ word, which is meditation. The ‘M’ word is a very large tent: different practices that are called ‘meditation’—everything from staring at a candle to guided meditation and all kinds of things. TM is sometimes characterized by what it is not. It’s not a form of concentration or contemplation; it’s a form of meditation that allows the individual to settle deep within themselves to what we call the “source of thought within.” And that source of thought deep within supersedes all objects of attention, and therefore it’s transcendental. There are many names for this pure consciousness, or pure awareness, self-realization. The self is just consciousness without an object of attention. So the human individual has the potential to contact this source. One thing that distinguishes TM is it transcends its own activity. The technique is not something that’s continual; it’s something that arrives at a goal, which is the Self. When you’re in the Self, you don’t need the technique. During the practice, there are times when the individual has no thoughts. They’re simply in the Self. So Transcendental aspect of

Transcendental Meditation is what makes it different. It goes to this level of the human self beyond the activity. Now, most of your other forms of meditation have to do with contemplation of some beautiful thing, or some concentration on a particular something or other—your breath, your this—or maybe just mindfulness where you just kind of keep your awareness on something. But TM is a technique which transcends it’s own activity. It arrives at this goal, which is this inner field. So this inner field is just the essential aspect of the person themselves. As a matter of fact, there’s a recent study done by Fred Travis that identifies Paul Stokstad three major brainwave patterns that are characteristic of those three different major types of meditation, and each one has a different effect. One is concentration, which creates more ability to concentrate. Your mindfulness, or Open Monitoring, creates more ability to be present. I can’t remember the article in great detail, but there’s a completely different brainwave pattern for each. The idea is just to know these differences and to ask, ‘What is your goal in meditation?’ The goal of meditation of TM is not, however, not the meditation itself, but the effects found in our daily lives. The goal is to create an enlightened individual. And it’s not some far-off goal; it’s a goal that people are experiencing. And also it’s cumulative in its benefits. The advantage of this meditation is it doesn’t take years and years of practice. A person who’s been meditating for a few days has a profound experience of the meditation itself. Of course, the effects outside of meditation are cumulative over time. VM: Our theme this month is Cultural Shift. Do you believe our culture is shifting? PS: I do believe there’s a very fascinating, but invisible, cultural shift. And I believe that people are going to wake up some day and say, “What happened?” As a matter of fact, I think a fascinating thing that either you or I could do would be to write a book from the future. And there was a book like this, written by, I think his name is Edward Bellamy, called “Looking Backward,” in which he wrote a book from the future, looking back to his time. And I think that there are various theories of what the future is going to be. One is this [theory of ] technology getting more and more fascinating, and the emerge of the “singularity” proposed by Ralph Kurzweil and all of that. And the other view is the usual progress: make more money and enjoy more technology. I think what’s really happening is the emergence of what my wife and I call the future human. There’s a shift that’s going on. People are seeing a new paradigm of what it means to be human, and they are investigating, they are learning to take responsibility for their own growth. They see themselves as the microcosm of the macrocosm. For example, we have a lot of people very angry, demonstrating about peace. But we see peace as something that has to start with the individual. And we also see that there can be collective effects. Some of our research talks about collective effects of people meditating together. That’s why we have these golden domes here at our university, because we’re actually meditating to create a collective effect on our society. And that seems bizarre when you think in terms of old-style physics, but quantum physics, you can imagine a lot of continued on page 38

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Local Microfinance Organization Helps Raise Women Out of Poverty by Delle Willett

pig. A bike. A sewing machine. These are three things that can make the difference between hunger and food on the table. Between illiteracy and literacy. Between sickness and health. Three things that can purchased with a microloan, awarded through the Grameen Bank— “Bank of the Villages,” in Bangla—founded in 1976 by Bangladeshi economist Muhammed Yunus. By the beginning of 2005, the Grameen Bank had loaned over $4.7 billion to the poor, and by the end of 2008, $7.6 billion. By 2006, Grameen Bank had over 2,100 branches. In 2007, more than 100 million of the world’s poorest families received a microloan, positively impacting the lives of an estimated 500 million family members. Its success has inspired similar projects in more than 40 countries around the world. One of these inspired projects is San Diego’s Women’s Empowerment International, a nonprofit corporation that partners with nonprofit microfinance lenders in San Diego, Mexico, Honduras, and Ghana. Women’s Empowerment (WE) was founded in December 2003 by San Diegans Leigh Fenly and Win Cox. Through their leadership, WE has raised over half a million dollars, which continues to grow with the help of new donors and money from repaid loans, which then gets lent to new recipients. “The transformative power of microloans is that so little can do so much; even a $50 loan can start business after business, as that repaid loan is reissued,” says Cox. “It’s extraordinary that with so little money we truly can give a poor woman the opportunity to better her life, put food on the table, and for the first time, send her

children to school. And that’s all these hardworking women want: opportunity, not charity.” Microloans are made almost exclusively to women, who typically apply the loans toward improving the lives of their children via schooling and improved health services, and investing in their husbands. This proven economic model lifts women out of poverty, helping them to develop their potential and strengthen their families. Donors can request that their gift goes directly into loans, grants, and services for the poor. The repayment rate in all WE programs exceeds 95 percent, and repaid loans are offered to other women to start new businesses. Fenly says, “Many of our microfinance partners utilize the power of the group to make a difference for individuals and communities. Groups of borrowers pledge to guarantee each other’s loans and support each other’s businesses. Because collateral is not necessary, credit becomes available to those previously blocked from formal financial services. While building local economies, these close-knit groups also foster personal growth and create community leaders across the globe.” WE’s first partnership, with nonprofit microfinance organization Grameen de la Frontera in Sonora, Mexico, supports women entrepreneurs in rural villages. The second partnership, with the International Rescue Committee (IRC) in San Diego, launched the WE STAR (Support, Training, and Assistance to Refugee) Center. Since then, WE has formed additional partnerships with the Adelante Foundation in Intibucá, Honduras, and with Women’s Trust in Ghana. The STAR Center provides technical support, business training, and access to microcredit loans and grants to low-income and refugee women in San Diego. Located in City Heights, the Center reaches numerous refugee women and guides them to start or expand their own businesses, augment their families’ incomes, and reduce or completely eliminate dependence on public assistance. The STAR Center has launched a diversity of businesses including dressmaking, licensed childcare, small retail businesses, ethnic breads, imported shoes, and many others. For more information, please attend the Women’s Empowerment Annual Meeting on June 10, 2012 from 2-3:30 p.m. at the Marina Village Conference Center, 1936 Quivira Way, San Diego 92109,. The guest speaker is Beatriz Marina Bours, social entrepreneur and board member of Grameen de la Frontera. Guests welcome. Visit www.womenempowerment.org.

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Inside

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Joy

by Alisa Farina Maynard

“W

hy not create your own mobile mystery school?” said the Raven. “You wish to teach the teachers and train the trainers; a mystery school could be one vehicle for offering such wisdom.” Little did I know something would come of that on that January day when 13 of us sat around the conference table, fully immersed in the eight keys— various yantra mandalas in vibrant colors, activating us each in different yet similar ways—eight exquisite works of art which Aniel had created in New Mexico to share with this small group of students of ancient lore. We knew we were up to something, but what? What began as a concept has now rolled out as the recent launch for “INSIDE JOY: Celebrating Keys to Ascension,” a sacred retreat to be held this Labor Day Weekend, Friday, August 31 through Monday, September 3 at Sedona Mago Retreat in Sedona, Arizona. Offerings will include Ascension Guidance, Tao Wisdom, Tai Ji, Art, Music, Tibetan and Mayan Mysticism, and The Way of Love and Compassion. Our very special guest artists and musicians include: celebrated flutist Paul Horn; performance artist, vocalist, and writer Ann Mortifee; Tai Ji Master Chungliang Al Huang; flutist Nawang Khechog; pianist Peter Kater; multiinstrumentalist and kirtan leader Geoffrey Gordon; shaman of Mayan wisdom and cultural anthropologist LionFire; ThunderBeat, with Daniel Dreaming Eagle and Baluh’eczjah; Sacred Music-Sacred Dance; a traditional Hopi dance ceremony; and Tibetan scholar and artist Ven. Tenzin Yignyen. Further wisdom presentations feature: Dr. David Ackerman on Healing the Emotional Body; artist Nicholas Kirsten Honshin on Awakening to the

Invisible; Dr. Elliott Maynard on FutureNoble Celestial Dragons Science Art and Technology; Aniel on You Who Have Ascension Consciousness; Mayan Mysticism Vanquished The Three Forms with LionFire; Laurie Reyon and Puddah Of Ignorance: on Ascension Guidance and Interspecies Communications (especially whales and Hate dolphins); intuitive Terra Sonora; medical Greed intuitive Jerry Wills on the Mechanics of and Delusion Consciousness and Quantum Healing; and Ven. Tenzin Yignyen offering Tibetan Bring Buddhist Practices for Peace and Compassion. The Golden Awareness A traditional Hopi dance ceremony is being Of Compassion offered as a prelude to three extraordinary Love And Peace evenings of music and dance, and a special From the Heart concert will be offered to retreat participants of the Earth and the extended community of Sedona as Mother a finale to the sacred retreat. The concert To Heal will feature Chungliang Al-Huang dancing The Suffering with the music of Peter Kater’s sublime Of All. piano and the traditional flutes of Nawang Khechog, in a program drawing from their by Nicholas Kirsten-Honshin recorded collaboration entitled, “Dance of the Innocents.” INSIDE JOY is in actuality a mobile mystery school, evolving programs for new students and taking its teachers to locations such as Berkeley, Los Angeles, New York, Dallas, Boston, New York, Croatia, Berlin, Paris, and Stuttgart. Stay tuned and remember: “In Joy We Trust!” Be the joy you wish to see in the world! Alisa Farina Maynard is the Executive Producer of INSIDE JOY. For more information on INSIDE JOY, please call 855.809.2272 or visit www.insidejoy.net. To register for the retreat, go to www.insidejoy.eventbrite.com.

Experience Sunburst

Meditation • Community • Service – July 15-29, 2012 Experience living with Spirit in a supportive environment during this two week program. Meditate and serve with community members amidst the beauty of nature. Learn to create vibrant, sustainable systems within and around you.

Learn Kriya Meditation July 26-29, 2012

Unlock your true potential! Learn the liberating Sunburst Kriya Yoga meditation tool and discover the healing power of your personal relationship with the Divine. Sunburst, founded by Norman Paulsen, direct disciple of Paramahansa Yogananda, is located 40 miles north of Santa Barbara, CA. Please call for more information.

www.SunburstOnline.org • Email: ContactUs@SunburstOnline.org • 805.736.6528 W W W.VI S I O N M AG A Z I N E .C O M • J U N E 2 012 • VI S I O N M AG A Z I N E

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May you realize what a wonderful being you are, and may your life be filled with inner love, gratitude, and peace. —Yogmata Keiko Aikawa

Himalayan Siddha Meditation Master Comes to Los Angeles

ost yogis who attain the level of samadhi (true enlightenment) only do so through years of rigorous training and meditation. Oftentimes these Siddha Masters isolate themselves from other people, living in some unknown location in the Himalayas. One yogi, Yogmata Keiko Aikawa, attained samadhi in “a relatively short [amount of] time.” She did this with the help of Hari Baba, training herself and meditating high up in the Himalayas—up to heights of 6,000 meters (over 19,000 feet). Through her strict training, Yogmata was able to attain samadhi 18 times between 1991 and 2007. After witnessing Yogmata’s samadhi and her pursuits to inspire and aid humanity, the Indian government officially recognized Yogmata as a Himalayan Siddha Meditation and Yoga Master, giving her the title, “Mahamandaleshwar” (the Supreme Master of the Universe). Yogmata understands that not all people are able to undergo such intense training with guidance from Siddha Masters in the Himalayas. So for those who still wish to reach this state of enlightenment and spread peace and kindness to all, she and Meditation Master Mahayogi Pilot Baba provide a “shortcut” to samadhi through their organization, Himalayan Siddha Yoga. “Samadhi can liberate you, making you understand that you are not a body. You will not just know this intellectually, but will have a practical understanding of samadhi,” says Mahayogi Pilot Baba. Yogmata Keiko Aikawa continued on page 41

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VISION CAFE

“Shakti Fest” continued from page 11

back these kinds of conscious-expanding approaches to life. That’s why they have limited medical marijuana, for example. And yet they allow alcohol, but medical marijuana—something that’s healthy—they want to close it down. So the alcohol industry and the tobacco industry and the pharmaceutical industry, they own America. And 45 percent of our country is medicated with the most heavy prescription drugs in the world. Many of those people could potentially just have a puff of some herb; that’s no problem. To be able to smoke a joint every once in a while, you know, there’s nothing wrong with that. The government shouldn’t be able to tell you what you can do or what you can’t do. VM: The good stuff is illegal. SS: But love isn’t. VM: Oh, well that’s good. SS: But passion isn’t illegal. Service isn’t illegal. And that’s what we have to keep on bringing to each other; that’s really what our focus is. And of course we’re going to have our ups and downs. But forgiveness—we’re going to have to start forgiving each other. VM: Even if we might be jerks in our daily lives—cut people off while we’re driving, have road rage, etc.— coming to Joshua Tree seems to help us de-stress. This is a kind-hearted festival, and it’s easy to leave here with a softer, more open heart, I find. SS: Hopefully we can maintain this vibration, maintain this open heart, this love, and keep it forever. It’s work, it’s constant work. It’s like relationships. Nobody said a relationship between a man and woman, woman-woman, whatever, is free from work; it’s 24 hours, seven days a week. So is our sadhana, so is our meditation, our yoga, our chanting, our path—it’s work. VM: It’s constant maintenance.

SS: It is. But it achieves a great purpose. To learn more about Bhakti Fest, and to get information about upcoming festivals, please visit www.bhaktifest.com. Daphne can be reached at daph.occupylamedia@gmail.com and at www. paintzflwrs.blogspot.com.

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“Maharishi University” continued from page 27

people functioning from a deep level can have an additive, quantum wave, effect. In terms of cultural effect, I think that there’s one view of life that things are going to be more and more technological and more and more convenient. But I think there’s also a big need for what we call ‘high-touch’ in addition to ‘high-tech.’ But like I said, I don’t necessarily see the technical world as inimical to the development of consciousness. These new media, they reflect qualities of consciousness. One of the qualities of consciousness as we describe it is omnipresence. And then another is infinite connectivity. These are aspects of this unified field, of this field of consciousness. And we’re seeing on the Internet, the growth of more connectivity. We’re seeing omnipresence, we’re seeing more knowledge. Like I said, these media are actually an epiphenomenon of the development of consciousness. So new levels of human development are accompanied by new kinds of media. As far as the future goes, to me, I believe that there’s so much emphasis on ecology. I think the new human—the future human—is going to be someone who’s not just into ecology, but also cosmo-ecological or psycho-ecological, that they themselves are going to be and see themselves as radiating in harmony with nature. A person in harmony with themselves creates a fundamental harmony with nature. Which I think is about Behavior with a capital ‘B,’ and also with a capital ‘E’—BEhavior. It’s not just ‘Walk the talk,’ it’s ‘BE the talk.’ And so I think people, as time goes on—and it’s happening across many disciplines—people are saying, “I’m responsible for my self-growth. You are not my problem; you’re just there to represent my problem.” All this relationship work, all this stuff out there… I just kind of feel people are realizing that they need to do self-development as a basis for helping the world. Because what’s most selfish is also the most altruistic. And while people think, oh you’re just trying to get away from the world, no, I’m trying to do something for the world. So the other thing we view is that it’s not enough just to go to college and get a bunch of knowledge and get a job. First of all, the job may not exist in five years.

And second of all, why not get all the tools for being a complete human? There’s the old argument for Liberal Arts that you get a more well-rounded individual. But I think our school takes that a bit farther, that, as they say, there’s millions of people getting jobs, but it’s not just get a job, it’s also get a life. As far as cultural shift, I think that there is a sense that quality of life is an essential element and that technology only takes you so far. It’s a very complicated thing for us because we want to have natural, or organic, or local everything. At the same time, we want to enjoy our technology and be interconnected all over the world. So you’re part of a very sophisticated, multi-dimensional personality. I’m not sure the future is built for men; it might only be built for women. Because you need the ability to multi-task, you need the ability to handle many cultural types, you need the ability to be sensitive to feelings—the sophistication of the modern individual. It may be that we just aren’t going to have any men, I don’t know. No guarantees, but I just don’t know if they’re really suited for the future. I hope so; I’d like to be a part of it. When the foundation has cracks, you look to the foundation. When there’s suffering in society, you look to the basis. And the real basis is not political. To me, one phrase I like is, “All change is personal.” All change is personal, and all politics is personal. There is an amazing invisible cultural shift, all the people working towards development of consciousness, all the people looking to self-development as the fundamental change, and all the people looking to individual responsibility—individual responsibility to manifest the change, at least for themselves and the people around them. To me, it’s the rise of the individual and the fall of the famous. It’s not about being famous; it’s about being fantastic. Everyone is obsessed with ‘making it’ and being famous and being exceptional. You’re already continued on page 40

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“GMOs” continued from page 8

“The Shift” continued from page 7

has handed our food supply over to a private multi-national corporation. This is the corporation that gave us DDT and Agent Orange. They now own almost all of our commercial seed. They are not doing this to “feed the world,” as their marketing campaign states; they are doing this to control our food supply in order to increase their profits. If these companies were creating GMOs for altruistic reasons, they would not be patenting their seeds, suing our farmers, or putting our seed cleaners out of business. Farmers have traditionally saved their seed to replant for the next year. They’ve done this for thousands of years. With all the commercial seed cleaners out of business, large farms can’t save their seeds anymore and have to buy new seed each year. (Read the excellent Vanity Fair article, “Monsanto’s Harvest of Fear”: http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/ features/2008/05/monsanto200805.) Unless it’s organic, 80 percent of the processed foods in the supermarkets contain genetically engineered ingredients—mostly from soy, corn, canola, and sugar beets. These same foods are on the market in Europe without GE ingredients because the people spoke up and first demanded labeling, and also said they would not buy the food if it had GE ingredients. Monsanto just got approval for genetically modified sweet corn, and they are working on genetically modifying chocolate (don’t mess with my chocolate!). They also say we should buy organic foods if we want to avoid GMOs, but their crops are starting to contaminate the organic crops. It’s time to stand up for our food supply and say NO to GMOs! Don’t feel badly if you didn’t know about GMOs. It seems as if we were all kept in the dark intentionally, but we don’t have to stay in the dark. Educate yourself about genetically engineered food. Tell your family and friends. What we eat affects our health and the health of our children. It’s time to take back our food. If you’re in California, you can join the effort to get Mandatory Labeling of Genetically Engineered Foods on the California ballot for November 2012. We have thousands of volunteers across the state and we have gotten enough signatures to get this on the ballot. Now we’re working on education and outreach. We have speakers and educational films that we can bring to your school, yoga studio, doctors office, or church. To learn more, go to: http://www.Labelgmos.org; http://www. responsibletechnology.org; and http://www.organicconsumers.org. Sheri Fogarty has her degree in Nutrition and has advanced training in alternative medicine and classical homeopathy. She writes about GMOs and real food at http://www.momsforsafefood.org. Contact her at mom@momsforsafefood. org.

My physical body could not grow stronger if I held on to old beliefs that I am different and “less than” everyone else. Although I was a successful “medical case,” I still carried the ingrained belief that I did not fit in with the rest of the world. There were old, deep emotional wounds within me. Identifying and working through those emotions became necessary work. As the emotional wounds healed, my legs became stronger, my limp less severe. The more I said “yes” to new opportunities, the more opportunities presented themselves to me. A library book would fall into my hands, literally. A magazine article would jump off the page. A friend would invite me to join her in a class or event. Life is full of many learning and healing opportunities when we become open. It is amazing how the Universe works. Synchronicities, or unexplained coincidences, kept showing up at the right time, in the right order. If the shamanic intuitive healer had come into my life in the beginning, I would have thought that was too far out for me. But after experiencing Reiki energy healing and other techniques, it did not seem so far out anymore. I was able to accept the invitation, and the emotional healing moved forward. Although my entire being has evolved into a more serene, connected, and whole woman, I am not done yet. In fact, it will take my entire lifetime, or a few, to complete healing. There is always something more to be healed—another level, another facet. We live in an environment where there are always new challenges, new pains, deeper issues arising for healing. Healing is not confined to the medical world! It needs to occur on all levels of being. Our individual thoughts and beliefs are the foundations of becoming whole again. These thoughts and beliefs affect all medically-based surgeries and procedures, and yet our society is just beginning to grasp that concept. Each of us has a different path to find our own healing, to do our own work. Spirit will guide us when we become open to all the wonderful possibilities presented to us. There will be times when doctors and the medical community need to be part of the path, and there will be times when other types of healers need to guide us along the way. What will be the new understanding of disease and injury? What methods will be commonplace in the coming decades? When will energy work, deep breathing exercises, and myriads of other healing modalities replace prescriptions? While it’s exciting to contemplate all the possibilities, now is the time to start one’s own healing journey. Taking responsibility for one’s own path is the true cultural shift. It’s an exciting journey! Simply believe it is possible, and then it is. Deborah Lloyd is a Reiki Master certified holistic therapy practitioner, and clinical social worker in a hospice agency in Asheville, NC. She is the author of Believe and it is True: A Story of Healing and Life Lessons. For more information, visit www. deblloydhealing.com.

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“Vertical Garden” continued from page 23

am such a different person now because of it. I have lost over 120 pounds in the past year alone. I also feel so much better and more mentally aware. I remember before I started using my Airgrown system, it was difficult to get around, being 350 pounds. I remember always being short of breath after even walking one flight of stairs. No 25-year-old should have to deal with such fatigue. I was on many types of medications to treat my many aliments. When I started to feel like I couldn’t live like this anymore, I spoke to a healthcare professional. Taking his advice, I began to purchase organic versions of foods that I regularly consumed. After realizing that eating organic products is far more expensive, I bought my first vertical garden and started to grow my own produce in my apartment in San Diego. I also began to promote Airgrown systems and the ease of their operation. The food not only tasted better, but it gave me more energy, and I began to lose weight with little exercise—only walking instead of driving around. Never before had I lost weight so easily. I had tried so many different weightloss approaches, only to fail or get tired of the diets that I had to endure—usually some strict, rigid structure that was unrealistic and not practical. It always ended with me gaining back all the weight that I had lost or even more weight than I had before starting the diet. Growing healthy, organic produce that I could eat myself was something that truly appealed to me. Now I love to grow my own produce and share with others the fascinating benefits of saving your health and money with simple methods such as Airgrown. My family now owns 300 of the commercial towers currently under construction in Dromilly, Jamaica, which is now the world’s first commercial aeroponics farm. For more information on vertical gardening and Sustainable Garden Supply, Inc., please visit www.sustainablegardensupply.com and www.airgrown.com. Please call Sydney at 619.804.1833 for more information. “Maharishi University” continued from page 38

exceptional. You’re already a miracle. You just have to manifest your own miracle. I have a book idea [which] is: “How to Not Be Famous.” We need much more knowledge how not to be famous than to be famous. How can we find significance in a life that is not recognized by the masses? Is mass recognition the only form of happiness? Even if we’re famous for 15 minutes, we’re not going to get everybody in. We are our own public. VM: Is David Lynch involved in the university? PS: David Lynch has an amazing initiative of his own. We’re hoping some day he’ll come give a film course. But his focus is largely on inner-city school students, homeless populations, and veterans. He’s sponsoring programs that bring the benefits of the TM program to people who have ADHD and PTSD. He is a trustee of the university. But most of his focus is on stressed populations. He’s done a lot of work internationally as well, for kids, by raising money so that they can learn the TM program. We’re doing a lot of work now for veterans and ADHD students. It’s been good for us, because people see we have a humanitarian side; we’re not just doing the learn meditation thing. VM: And I’m just curious, are there any new programs or new arenas that the university is focusing on? PS: We’re being more selective and trying to attract students who have a sense of what we are. We’re more interested in people who really are here to do selfdevelopment. The thing is, there’s a special profile. There’s people that come here and say, “I didn’t know that you existed.” There’s a certain person who goes, “Wow!” Because they say, “Oh, well everything that makes me weird somewhere else, makes me normal here.” The fact that I’m into consciousness, I’m into meditation, I’m into yoga, I’m into vegetarianism or I’m a vegan, all the things that everyone says you’re weird for—here you are like everybody. So the problem

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for us is finding those people. They don’t get up in the morning and say, “Hey, I wonder if there’s a place that does consciousness-based education.” That’s our slogan. We know there are many thousands of them out there, but we have to let them know that we exist, because a lot of people have even forgotten about TM. We’re still doing it, but you’ve got to acquaint the new generation with it. I wanted to mention there’s also our commitment to sustainability. We’ve got one of the only LEED platinum certified structures in this new sustainable building we created. It was built using Maharishi Vastu architecture, so it’s got the LEED thing and the Vedic system of architecture. Maharishi Vastu is a system of architecture that creates a building that is in tune with the laws of nature, in terms of the orientation of the building, in terms of where you put the door, in terms of where you put the kitchen. We just did a building that was not only sustainable, but was also using this ancient, Maharishi Vedic System. We even have a whole city that was built using these concepts called Vedic City, here in Iowa. To summarize, the thing about cultural shift, and an article about cultural shift, and indeed the whole focus in most of what we call ‘news,’ is the focus on the future. But the real future is to be found in more ability to be present in the now. Our focus at Maharishi University of Management is on creating students with less noise in the system, more inner, dynamic silence along with their learning activity, so that they can make the most of every learning and living moment. It’s the kind of thing that makes you wish going back to school was in your future, right now. Paul Stokstad serves as the Marketing Director for Maharishi University of Management (www.mum.edu). He has taught ad copywriting, journalism, advertising, web marketing, poetry writing, and comedy writing at MUM. He has published books on tennis, improv theatre, and chronic fatigue. His Butterfly Tattoo book of poems will be published by Bluelight Press in 2012.

“Yogananda” continued from page 13

“Poetic Framework” continued from page 21

to breathe, did everything he could to shake Mukunda off. Repeatedly, he beat the smaller boy’s head against the ground until he’d rendered him almost unconscious. Still Mukunda held firm “Do you give up?” Mukunda demanded between clenched teeth. At last the bigger boy had to cry, “Yes! Yes! Let go my throat! I give up!” Mukunda released his hold. The other stood up and inhaled great lungful of air. Once he had regained his breath, however, he broke his word and leapt a third time at Mukunda. This time, the other boys intervened. “Mukunda has beaten you fairly!” they cried. “If you try again to beat him, we will all jump on you.” From then on, realizing he’d only be outnumbered, the bully never tried to beat Mukunda again. But from Mukunda’s courage the boys received a bracing lesson on the importance of standing resolutely for the cause of justice. Another time, in Bareilly, a large group of boys surrounded him menacingly. He himself, in telling me the story, said “Fifty boys.” Laurie Pratt, however, his chief editor, said to me, “Fifty boys is inconceivable. He must have said fifteen.” Well, fifty is the number I heard, but I agree that, under the circumstances, even fifteen would have been a difficult number for him to count at that moment. Surely, then, he gave whichever number he did only to indicate a large group. Their leader challenged Mukunda: “Why have you been avoiding our company?” “Frankly,” Mukunda answered, “I don’t like the language you use.” “We speak as we are!” retorted the leader angrily. “Who are you to be uppity with us? We’re going to teach you a good lesson!” A second boy shouted, “Yeah! We’ll massacre you.” A third joined in, “We’ll break every bone in your body! When you crawl home to your mother, she won’t even recognize you!” Mukunda backed against a tree and cried fiercely, “How brave of you all, to menace me in this number! And, yes, in these numbers, you can do all that you say. But I tell you this: I’ll ‘massacre’ the first boy who dares to lay a hand on me!” Much foot shuffling ensued. Finally their leader said, “We didn’t really mean it, Mukunda. We’d rather be friends.” Mukunda then concluded, “If it’s friendship you want, then friends let us be.” He and their leader walked off, arms about each others’ shoulders. Excerpt from Paramahansa Yogananda: A Biography with Personal Reminiscences and Reflections, by Swami Kriyananda. Paramahansa Yogananda: A Biography recently won the 2012 Book Award for Best New Spirituality Book. It is available for purchase wherever books are sold. You can read more excerpts at www.YoganandaBiography.com. Contact Dharmaraj at dharmaraj@anandala.org for more information. “Cultural Shift” continued from page 19

always engage and attempt to build our macro-collective of peace, justice, and sustainability sisters and brothers, so long as the inequitable powers that be are alive and supporting an extremely small populous to live “comfortably” by means of extraordinary wealth and power, they will be there. However, if history and the true spirit of humanity can be our guide, it’s plain and clear that massive cultural shifts are taking place, and in seeking a sense of solidarity with these people and movements in some way, the change that has come and will come as a result will not only continue to gain strength, but they will also help pave a path towards equal rights, justice, and ultimately peace for all. If there has ever been a time to engage, educate, and nurture a cultural shift, it’s right now. Brennan Lagasse is a writer, teacher, and mountain guide living in Lake Tahoe, CA. Brennan can be reached at brennanlagasse@hotmail.com.

satisfy. Consolidating its wealth in its lair, it grows ever more powerful, instilling a slow constriction across its domain. Should anyone or anything threaten its wealth and power, it breathes fire, incites fear, and scorches the land. The dream of the modern era was that if we set aside our emotions and be reasonable, become properly educated, we would all prosper. But as the developments in neuroscience have demonstrated that our ability to reason is inseparable from emotion, it’s time to bring the poets out from exile to make use of their spiritual gifts to fight passion with passion, because it appears we can no longer look the other way—we have a dragon to slay. By promoting a collective narrative that challenges predominant ideologies, bear in mind that we’re essentially smoking out the dragon from where it hides, and one should expect that it can turn ugly fast. People do not appreciate perceived threats to their wealth, power, or status. But a house divided cannot stand, and we’re quickly learning that individual freedom, ultimately, can only be sustained and balanced by love for the collective. In times of crisis, our diversity is to our benefit because it enables us to draw strength from a variety of sources. Yet because the hoarding dragon is symbolic in Western culture, not Eastern, it is to Western culture we should turn to without inhibition. I know of only one way to slay a dragon, and that’s through the blood of the Lamb. The story of Christ accepting the cross is an inspiring story of love, faith, and sacrifice. Such inspiration I expect would be necessary because, as the biblical Book of Revelation (12:11) also tells us, to slay a dragon also requires a disposition to not love our lives “so much as to shrink from death.” But it is all reliant on inspiration. I can merely propose, much as the old adage attests, “Man proposes, God disposes.” Whether the reader is subsequently inspired to share this article with others and initiate action, or use it to line the bottom of a bird cage, its fate is beyond my ability to influence. Given my own limited stature, I have to be content to at least plant a seed for cultural shift. But if it inspires one person, perhaps that alone can make the difference. Perhaps he can take this cup from us from which we may not wish to drink. Brad Hachten is a writer and poet living in Southern California. More about his vision can be found at his blog, www.promisedlandproject.blogspot.com. He can be reached at pwp.brad@gmail.com. “Yogamata” continued from page 37

Yogmata teaches Himalayan Siddha meditation that relaxes you and puts you squarely on the path to enlightenment. Her compassionate meditations provide action plans for finding peace, balancing health, and unifying with the Life Force. “Samadhi is the merging of the Self with the Supreme Self, the peace that transcends body and mind,” says Yogmata. “Samadhi is not only enlightenment and realization, but transcends both enlightenment and realization.” Although Yogmata lives in Japan, her mission to teach self-nurturing through easy and effective meditation is a global one. She has traveled extensively in Asia, Europe, and the United States. Yogmata is visiting Los Angeles this June to offer a two-day workshop. Each day of the workshop includes a darshan (receiving of blessings) before the anugrahas (blessings). On Saturday, June 23, Yogmata offers anugraha kriya (an enlightenment workshop), and on Sunday, June 24, anugraha diksha (a life-changing initiation). “Just come and join in,” urges Mahayogi Pilot Baba. “You do not have to practice; you just have to be present and BE WITH YOURSELF.” Join Yogmata at her life-changing workshop on Saturday, June 23 and Sunday, June 24 at the Hilton-Los Angeles Airport. Visit www.yogmata.org for more information. —SN

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Calendar OF EVENTS

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‘Star’ Continues to JUNE JUNE 2 and 9 Sat Appear Worldwide CRANIAL SACRAL THERAPY. Feeling, adjusting the movement of the bones of for MAITREYA the the cranium. 16 Credits. (760) 943-8485 WORLD TEACHER www.naturalhealinginst.com

Huntington Beach, CA, Jan. 2012

Introductory Presentations 3pm 1st Sunday of month Controversial Bookstore 3063 University Ave - SD 6:30pm 2nd Thurs of month Philosophical Library 2091 E. Valley Parkway #D Escondido

JUNE 4, 11, 18 Mon MEDITATIONS FOR SELF EXPANSION & FULFILLMENT! Different kinds from a variety of traditions. EXPERIENTIAL!! For Self growth, fulfillment, professional practice! Includes sitting, moving meditations anytime. 7-9:30 pm. 9 credits. (760) 943-8485 www. naturalhealinginst.com JUNE 8 Friday CHAKRA CLEARING MEDITATION WITHISABELLA STOLOFF 7:459:30pm Cost $15 Earthly Juices664 El Camino Real, Tustin, CA 92780www. ochealingcenter.com JUNE 10 Sun

SD Cable Public Access Channel Time Warner Saturday 5:30pm Visit our booth at local street fairs

LA: (818) 785-6300 SF: www.sharingforpeace.org www.share-international.org

JUNE 16 SPECIAL SCREENING OF THE SHADOW EFFECT, Debbie Ford’s cutting-edge documentary, featuring Marianne Williamson, Deekpak Chopra and Dr. Edie Eger. This powerful movie will leave you breathing deeper as you take back your power and step into the possibility of the next greatest evolution of yourself. Autographed copies of Debbie’s new book Courage will also be available. $10 donation for movie, beginning at 7 p.m. Joyful Living Church, 3505 Camino del Rio South (Padre Plaza Building), Mission Valley. (619) 521-4800 or www. joyfullivingsandiego.org. JUNE 16 and 17 Sat-Sun BACK BY POPULAR DEMAND! EXPANDED DEEP TISSUES CLASS WITH EMPHASIS ON BODY MECHANICS. You will learn full body massage with pressure, stretching while giving a massage, proper form, techniques, stretching in-between clients. 16 Credits. (760) 9438485, www.naturalhealinginst.com

Serve Humanity through Transmission Meditation 9:30am Sun, 7pm Tues & 8pm Fri in San Diego meditation.meetup.com/430 (619) 223-6703 For LA/SF info about events & Transmission Meditation groups in other cities:

JUNE 11-17 Mon-Sun DR.JOESEPH COSTA, CHAIRMAN/CEO AND THE WORLD HEALER INSTITUTE presents its 6th Annual Conference, “All About the Fourth Dimension”, June 1117 at the Mission Valley Resort in San Diego, CA. We are bringing presenters who actively communicate with the “Other Side” to share their knowledge. This is an exciting time due to the new world earth changes and human body changes happening on earth today. For more information, contact the World Healer Institute at 858-467-6974 or info@ worldhealerinstitute.org.

DRUM CIRCLE 7pm Free The Night Owl Fullerton 200 N. Harbor Blvd, Fullerton, CA 714-525-0305

JUNE 23 Sat FEND SHUI & A GREEN WORKPLACE: Practical, hands-on applications of world, “multicultural Feng Shui enhancing personal, professional settings. Incorporate green, nontoxic office materials, furniture, furnishings for healthier, safe, supportive, beautiful

Grow your business for 2012! Call us 1-866-804-8444

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environments. 8 Credits. (760) 943-8485, www.naturalhealinginst.com SUMMER SOLTICE-POTLUCK FIRE & CEREMONY 6-9pm $22 donation www. ochealingcenter.com 714-603-8624 JUNE 17 and JULY 22 Sun STRUCTUAL AND ANATOMICAL KINESIOLOGY REQUIRED FOR ALL 500 HR MASSAGE THERAPIST PROGRAMS. You will be able to demonstrate proficiency in identifying each muscle, its movement, as well as its contribution to structural balance and proprioception. Includes muscle testing and “Touch for Health” forms of reflex health analysis and therapy! 25 Credits. 5:30 pm – 9:15 pm. 6 Sunday Nights. (760) 943-8485 www.naturalhealinginst.com JUNE 24 Sunday

JUNE 20 and 27 Wed 7 SPORTS HEARBS & ANTIOXIDANTS HEARBS. Individualize cardiovascular, aerobics, weight lifting program combined with high quality, effective complimentary herbs, herbal formulas, other performance enhancement herbal products. What does, does not work, optimal delivery forms, dosages, more. 7 credits. 7:00 pm – 9:55. Steve Schechter, NP, HHP, NHI Director (760) 943-8485 www.naturalhealinginst.com JUNE 22-24 Fri—Sun AKASHIC RECORDS PRACTITIONER

TRAINING WITH BARARA SCHIFFMAN, ARCT. Deepen your Soulconnection to the Akashic Field in 2012. Learn to read the Akashic Records for yourself and others. Includes past life healing tools and certification via Linda Howe’s Center for Akashic Studies. $325, LA location. Pre-Registration: 818-4153479, www.YourLifeandSoul.com, AkashicLA@gmail.com JUNE 26 Tues BEING A HEALTH THERAPIST LEARN MANY IMPORTANT ASPECTS. Includes how to provide your own product line with integrity, how to integrate being a Holistic Health Therapist into your own Spiritual/Religious path. Much More! 3.5 Credit hours. 7 – 9:55 pm Steve Schechter, N.P., H.H.P., Director NHI. (760) 943-8485, www.naturalhealinginst.com JUNE 29-JULY 1 Fri-Sun BHAKTI FESTMIDWEST PREMIERE! Alliant Energy Center, Madison, WI Bhakti Fest has been offering the best in Yoga and World Music events since 2009 on the West Coast and is now premiering their 3-day music festival in the midwest, blending kirtan (devotional chanting), yoga and conscious living into one amazing weekend. Offering 12 hours of music per day, 36 yoga classes with world-renowned instructors and extensive workshops with some of the most powerful guides of our time including; KrishnaDas, Sara Ivanhoe, Darlene Vander Hoop, Dearbhla Kelly, Shymadas and Girish to name a few. Come be immersed in bliss! For details and to purchase tickets: bhaktifest.com JUNE 30 Sat RE-DISCOVERING AWE GENERATING TRADITIONAL MYSTICAL – Spiritual Experiences In Nature Practices to Make All Our Days More Sacred & Holy Includes easy walking-hiking, mystical meditations, practices with awareness and receptive or listening Presence; and sitting meditations/prayers/ visualizations. A basic of the mysticalspiritual experience is to go beyond the self (ego) and feel the transcendent Self that transforms us into being more whole, more holy. These are a series of practices, some in silence, designed by Steve to enter wilderness to profoundly

experience unifying sacred life force by enlivening and exhilarating all of our own senses thus giving ways of setting aside past and future. Generate AWEsome, Wonder-filled feelings. VERY EXPERIENTIAL!! 8 Credits. (760) 9438485, www.naturalhealinginst.com

AUGUST

JULY

JULY 18 Wednesday EXPLORE THE NEW FREQUENCIES OF HEALING presented by: Eric Pearl Venue: East West Books - 324 Castro Street Mountain View, CA 940411297 650-988-9800 Local Contact: Patrice Fistor-Jaehnig Patrice@ TheReconnection.com 1-707-953-9934 7:00pm - $12 Find out what’s baffling the medical community. Discover why hospitals and universities around the world are investing time and money in an attempt to explain these healings, and how you, too, can master this extraordinary work! Eric will discuss his remarkable story and give live demonstrations of the healings on audience volunteers.Venue for the following: Double Tree by Hilton Hotel San Jose For more information and to register: info@TheReconnection.com or call 323.960.0012 JULY 23-24 Mon-Tues Level III SEMINAR: THE RECONNECTION TAUGHT BY THE RECONNECTION TEACHING TEAM $897The Reconnection brings in “new” axiatonal lines that reconnect us on a more powerful and evolved level than ever before. This course will teach you how to bring in and activate these new lines, allowing for the exchange – beyond energy – of light and information, the reconnection of DNA strands and the reintegration of “strings”. For more information and to register: info@TheReconnection.com or call 323.960.0012 JULY 23rd-27 Mon-Fri KIDS-EARTH CAMP @ OC Healing Center 10-2pm M-F Ages 8-12 Reserve your space! 714-603-8624

AUGUST 11 Saturday TEACHERS INFORM, A MASTER TRANSFORMS - HIMALAYAN MASTER YOGIRAJ SIDDHANATH - USA Southern California 2012 Tour 6-9 pm, 1613 Lake Drive, Encinitas, CA 92024 Satsang and Experiential Workshop with Yogiraj Siddhanath (Free) Registration: 866-YOGI-RAJ or events@ siddhanath.org or www.siddhanath.org/ MeetYogiraj

AUGUST 8-16 Wed-Thurs AMAZING OPPORTUNITY FOR TEN PEOPLE – CALL TODAY The National Guild of Hypnosis Certification Course will begin a new class. It is a course you don’t want to miss if you are looking for a life time profession and career. When you are finished with the course you will be ready to go out into the real world and start your business and if you are committed to be successful you will be making money in a very short period of time, I promise. 41720 Winchester Rd. Ste. A Temecula, CA 92590 (951) 970-7868 www.hypnosiscentersoca.net AUGUST 12 Sunday TEACHERS INFORM, A MASTER TRANSFORMS - HIMALAYAN MASTER YOGIRAJ SIDDHANATH -

Grow your business for 2012! Call us 1-866-804-8444

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Calendar continued USA Southern California 2012 Tour 6-9 pm, 1613 Lake Drive, Encinitas, CA 92024 Kriya Yoga Workshop and Empowerment with Yogiraj Siddhanath ($108) Registration: 866-YOGI-RAJ or events@ siddhanath.org or www.siddhanath.org/ MeetYogiraj AUGUST 18 Saturday TEACHERS INFORM, A MASTER TRANSFORMS - HIMALAYAN MASTER YOGIRAJ SIDDHANATH - USA Southern California 2012 Tour 6-9 pm, UCLA Ackerman Student Union, Grand Ballroom 308 Westwood Plaza, Los Angeles, CA, 90024, USA Satsang and Experiential Workshop with Yogiraj Siddhanath (Free) Registration: 866-YOGI-RAJ or events@ siddhanath.org or www.siddhanath.org/ MeetYogiraj AUGUST 19 Sunday TEACHERS INFORM, A MASTER TRANSFORMS - HIMALAYAN MASTER YOGIRAJ SIDDHANATH - USA Southern California 2012 Tour 6-9 pm, UCLA Ackerman Student Union, Grand Ballroom 308 Westwood Plaza, Los Angeles, CA, 90024, USA Kriya Yoga Workshop and Empowerment with Yogiraj Siddhanath ($108) Registration: 866-YOGI-RAJ or events@siddhanath.org or www. siddhanath.org/MeetYogiraj AUG 31-SEPT 3 Fri-Mon INSIDE JOY: CELEBRATING KEYS To ASCENSION ~ A SARED RETREAT SEDONA MAGO RETREAT Experience and learn new paradigms for transcendence, ascension guidance, tai-ji with Chungliang Al Huang, Sacred Union with Paul Horn & Ann Mortifee, Kirtan with Geoffrey Gordon, Ven. Tenzin Yignyen, flutist Nawang Khechog with pianist Peter Kater, LionFIre,ThunderBeat with the Sexy Skulls, and so much more...! www.insidejoy.eventbrite.com or phone 855.809.2272 AUGUST 19-SEPT 2 Sun HUMAN DESIGN LOVE FESIVAL LOS ANGELES LOVE INTENSIVE EXPERIENTIAL SUMMER HUMAN DESIGN 8 Days of Celebration! BlissfulLYD / Mechanics / Living & Loving in HDFour workshop rooms a day!

Dj & Dance / ContAnimation theatre Group HD CHILL Lounge Experiential workshopsInterviews / Cosmic Youth warriorHD LOVE Agents Comedy office & Live Bands Human Design Planet. info Tickets on sale now! www. humandesignplanet.info

SEPTEMBER

SEPTEMBER 27 Thursday TEACHERS INFORM, A MASTER TRANSFORMS - HIMALAYAN MASTER YOGIRAJ SIDDHANATH - USA Southern California 2012 Tour Hilton Garden Inn, 6450 Carlsbad Blvd, Carlsbad, CA, USA 2012 California New Life Awakening Retreat with Yogiraj Siddhanath Registration: 866-YOGI-RAJ or events@ siddhanath.org or www.siddhanath.org/ MeetYogiraj

ONGOING

EXPERIENCE THE SEVEN SPIRITUAL LAWS OF SUCESS AT A MUCH DEEPER LEVEL. The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success Transformation Circles Adopted from the best-selling book by famed author, Deepak Chopra. These workshops will help you connect with you life at a much deeper level. With the practice of these laws you will be able to create affluence and abundance for yourself and others, have better relationships,and live the life you love. Our Day of Transformation also includes discounted Spa Day passes for $30 at the luxious La Costa Spa. after 3:PM. Also all attendees will receive a 15% discount at the Chopra Center store the day of the workshop except for jewelry. Tuition is $25 with advance registration and $30 at the door, and incluces the book “The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success by Deepak Chopra” and the Transformation Circles Companion Guide. For more information and to register for this fun and informative workshop and Day of Transformation please visit www.mytransformationcircles. com. The Law of Dharma - June 10th Discover your unique gifts and talents in service to others and create unlimited abundance. The Law of Pure Potentiality- July 16th - Experience Stillness and the creation of your desires will come through

spontaneously. The Law of Giving - August 12th Keep the affluence and abundance of the universe circulating in your life through giving and receiving. The Law of Karma - September 16th - Create happiness and success for yourself and others by becoming the conscious choice maker. The Law of Least Effort - October 14th - Use energy creatively, do less and accomplish more. The Law of Intention and Desire November 11th - Harness the power of intention to fofill your dreams and desires The Law of Detachment- December 16th - Access the creative force of the Universe through intention, surrender, and present moment awareness. KABBALAH IN ORANGE COUNTY This 4,000 year old wisdom reveals the secrets of creation and our purpose in it. Discover the answers you have been searching for. www.kabbalah.com/oc 800-236-5160 7.12

SUNDAYS Harmony Grove Spiritualist Association

Services

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

MONDAYS

FREE PSYCHIC READINGS every FIRST Monday 7:30p.m. by students in Vessa’s INTUITIVE INSIGHTS Clairvoyant Program, 4455 Morena Blvd. #108, 858.509.7582 www.MyIntuition.

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Net Mondays June 4, July 2, August 6, September 3, October 1, November 5, December 3. $8 BEGINNERS YOGA CLASSES Monday @ 6:00p.m. Tuesday @ 5:30 p.m. 2333 Camino del Rio South #240 92108 www.yogawell.com 619.917.0998.

WEDNESDAYS WEDNESDAY EVENINGYOGA AND MEDITATION Yoga: 6 – 7:30 PM; Quiet Meditation: 7:30 – 8 PM, Sunburst Sanctuary Allow yourself to feel the peace within during a yoga class followed by an optional quiet meditation. www.SunburstOnline.org Email: ContactUs@SunburstOnline.org (805) 736-6528

THURSDAYS FREE DETOXIFICATION AND WEIGHT LOSS CLASS 1st Thursday of every month. 6:30p.m. Easy and successful program. Register @ Body Basics Health Center, San Diego. 619.296.7390 11.11

FRIDAYS

HAPPINESS CLASSES - Based on the life-healing teachings of VERNON HOWARD, Fridays - 8p.m.; Sundays - 10a.m. New Life Foundation, 5779 Westminster Blvd., Westminster, CA. 714.899.9300 Conquer stress, handle difficult people with ease, banish problems. Donation basis. 06.12

SATURDAYS

SATURDAY DEEP MEDITATION 6 – 9 AM Come and go quietly during this special time of deeper meditation. www.SunburstOnline.org Email: ContactUs@SunburstOnline.org (805) 736-6528 YOGA TEACHER TRAINING–– (RYT, YISMT)™. Nationally respected yoga instructors. Hatha, Vinyasa, Breath Work, Much More, individualized to you. Comprehensive, unique Yoga Instructor, Somatics, & Movement Therapist. Natural Healing Institute, 760-9438485. Natural Healing Institute, 760943-8485. Natural Healing Institute, 760-943-8485. www.naturalhealinginst.

v i s i o n a r y

a r t i s t

Robert Steven Connett Born in 1951 in San Francisco, California. Interested in art as a child, Robert Steven Connett began more seriously drawing and painting at the age of 27. He continued to create artwork as a hobby for 20 years, during which time he owned and operated an insurance brokerage firm in San Francisco. He sold the firm in 1998 at age 47 after his home and art collection was destroyed by a fire. After being injured in the fire, he spent several years recuperating. During this time he became addicted to narcotic pain medications leading eventually to a street heroin addiction. After kicking the addiction, Connett moved to Los Angeles in 2003 where he began his full-time art career at the age of 52. E-mail or call Robert, rsconnett@gmail.com 323.227.4099 www.GROTESQUE.com

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never left. RB: What’s really funny about that is Melissa told me, after I met her, she’d been going to quite a few seminars before I even had a conversation with her. In the first seminar she was in, I was talking to the audience, and she saw me turn towards her and look her directly in the eyes and say, “And, if you will it, you will be teaching this some day.” Well the funny thing is, I never turned towards her, I never looked at her, and I never said that. MJ: And I knew he never said it, and I even asked my friend that was sitting next to me, “Did you just hear what he said?” And she repeated what he had actually said. So I was fully aware that he hadn’t said it, but the experience was so real. It was my inner voice giving me a calling and an invitation. And it was my choice whether I would follow or not. Even if I had no idea how it would unfold, it was part of my plan. RB: The call was itself the answer, and you could probably say, at some level in multi-dimensional awareness that is exactly what happened. MJ: In the seminar, nobody was attending except me. It’s quite common; we have a couple hundred people at a given seminar, and there are a couple hundred seminars going on in any given moment. Because each person experiences the information that they think that they’re hearing through their own perceptual filters, and it comes through each person differently. RB: It’s what Robert Anton Wilson called a “reality tunnel.” Everybody has their own reality tunnel. So when we speak, we have the challenge (Melissa and I) of being left-brained/right-brained and interchanging that so we have whole-brain awareness, so that we’re speaking to 200 or 300 people on their individual level, at their individual state of consciousness. And we have to communicate through the field so those ripples reach out and intersect with everybody so that it touches them where they are, and then they have the choice whether they want to change and to come into a different resonance or one that’s more complete for them. VM: Is the audience just incredibly diverse? I know you’ve been getting more MDs coming. MJ: What’s interesting about our audience is that there is no typical seminar participant. We have a broad range of students that attend. While we do have some MDs, we have just as many domestic engineers and teachers and teenagers. We have a really broad range of students. And because the information that we present can be readily acceptable, really by anyone—even though the less education you have, the more likely you’ll be able to learn what we’re teaching—there is no typical student. RB: And I would say, if there are more MDs in the class, I’m proud of them because they never tell me they are a doctor. VM: That’s good! With these different professions and different people, I just see this kind of movement in the world, a shift. MJ: I think if I have a vision for Matrix Energetics, it is that we continue to attract all types of individuals in all different vocations so that they can embody what it is that we’re teaching and then move that into wherever they are, so that what we’re offering in terms of accessing infinite potential becomes part of the paradigm that they’re in rather than them abandoning their paradigm to try to create a whole new one. They can create it from within. RB: What I think is the most encouraging thing about our seminars is we are regularly seeing 19-year-olds, 15-year-olds—boys and girls—coming to the seminar, understanding the seminar, immersed in the seminar, and having the time of their life. Just at the last seminar I had a 14-year-old girl tell me, “Sir, I want to tell you—seriously, I want to tell you—this is the greatest thing I’ve ever done in my entire life.” VM: If there is one thing you both could comment on regarding the theme, Cultural Shift, what would it be? RB: The field is infinite; there are infinite possibilities out there that are actually not out there at all, because they’re within you. Each person has the seed of greatness within them. And all they need to do in order to access that seed is to stop

being anyone else but who they really are. MJ: I don’t think I’m going to add anything to that; that was perfect. There’s nothing to add to that. That is the quintessential, what’s available through Matrix Energetics. Richard Bartlett, DC, ND, is a global leader and pioneer who has helped thousands of people heal themselves since founding Matrix Energetics. He is the author of the award-winning Matrix Energetics: The Science and Art of Transformation, The Matrix Energetics Experience, and The Physics of Miracles. Melissa Joy is the co-teacher and Executive Director of Matrix Energetics. Prior to Matrix Energetics, she spent over 15 years in the pharmaceutical industry, marketing and developing drugs. She later realized that providing drugs to treat diseases was no longer part of her life path. She also had a condition that Western medicine was unable to cure. This began her exploration into alternative health, leading her to a Matrix Energetics seminar in early 2006. She began her study with Dr. Bartlett that same year, and with continued practice and study, her disease went away. In 2008, Melissa joined Richard on stage as his co-teacher. For more information, visit www.matrixenergetics.com.

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John Martin

Richard Beaumont

Alokanand Diaz

Randy Richmond

Deborah Bergman

LYD / Mechanics / Living & Loving in HD Five Workshop rooms a day!

Cathy Kinnard

Human Design r

LOVE

e m m u S 012 2

7 Days Kashi Stone l MECHANICS Blissfu of

F e s t i va l

Classic Ra Film Series

Los Angeles

Celebration! Generator Waiting Open Spleen ROMANCE Confessions of An Open Ego Better Sex and Love through HD Open Head Centers Love and HD Relationships Spleen Authority Know Your Partner Know Yourself 43/23 Genius to Freak The Evolved Sexual Being Manifestors Who Are You Looking At? Profile Your Costume The Great Divide Body and Mind Open G Center Alien Workshop being Projector Touching the Future of Love Is There Anyone For Me? Emotional Open Couples Workshop Open Throat Will I See You In My Dreams? Emotional Authority The Beast With Two Backs Manifesting Generator

See Program here

www.HumanDesignPlanet.info Tickets on sale now!

A PLANET Production

Alissa Feranto

INTENSIVE Experiential

26th August -1st September LIVING

Not Self Revealed: Enemy or Ally Breathing and Not Knowing The Not Self Part I&II Perfomance of The Pattern Incarnation Crosses Money 101 True Self and Its Purpose

Classic Ra Films by Human Design Films ltd.

Aliens and Demons Love and Sex Patnership Made Easy Attraction Mechanics

Live Music DJ & Dance Theatre and more!

Maya Hotel Long Beach

Winner

2012 International Book Award, Best New Spirituality Book!

Ananda Los Angeles (anandala.org) Invites You to An Evening of Shared Wisdom and Transformation With

Swami Kriyananda LIVE! Celebrating the Publication of His Long-Awaited Biography of Paramhansa Yogananda!

SUNDAY JUNE 24, 2012 6:00 PM

FORD AMPHITHEATER 2580 Cahuenga Blvd. East Hollywood, CA 90068

FREE tickets!

ONLY at AnandaLA.org/tickets

wami Kriyananda is pleased to announce the publication of his highly anticipated biography of Paramhansa Yogananda, who brought yoga to the West in 1920, basing his work in Los Angeles. Yogananda’s seminal book, Autobiography of a Yogi, has sold over five million copies worldwide!

Now, in Paramhansa Yogananda: A Biography with Personal Reminiscences and Reflections, the definitive book on Yogananda’s life, Swami Kriyananda, one of the last living direct disciples of the Yoga Master, shares over 60 new stories about Yogananda’s life.

This is a Once in a Lifetime Opportunity! Come join Swami Kriyananda, who celebrated his 86th birthday in May, at this very special one-night-only event, as he launches his new book and tells personal stories – sometimes humorous, often miraculous, and always inspirational – of his formative years with Yogananda. He will offer rare insight into the master’s life and mission, and reveal Yogananda’s vision for the world in the coming years.

Download a free chapter at www.yoganandabiography.com Paramhansa Yogananda: A Biography

Internationally acclaimed spiritual author and lecturer MARIANNE WILLIAMSON will introduce Swami Kriyananda.

with Personal Reminiscences and Reflections

Scan to get free tickets online

is available wherever books are sold. From Crystal Clarity Publishers: www.crystalclarity.com

The John Anson Ford Theatre is a regional park of the County of Los Angeles devoted to the presentation of the performing arts and operated by the Los Angeles County Arts Commission.