Happy Tuesday!
I intended to release this vlog and blog on Monday, but its almost 50:00 long and is taking a loooonnnnngggg time to load up on youtube.com…so it must be that Great Spirit wants to share tips on meditation with you today instead.
In my blog today, I’ll share the main feature, which is my thoughts and experiences on what meditation is, and how we can best use it to enhance the creation of our dreams, and grow spiritually.
Next, I will share an exchange of comments between Bill Wolcott (one of the pioneering fathers of metabolic typing) and I in regards to my recent post titled “Managing Your Food Dragons.”
Then, I’ll share some updates on the passing of one of my favorite teachers, Rowena Kryder.
I’ll also share the class photo from our most recently completed HLC1 in Carlsbad this weekend, and finish with a little of what’s been gong on in my life.
Meditation TIPS for “I-WE-ALL”
Meditation is certainly being talked about a lot in a wide variety of circles today, including universities, business, among athletes, and is being explored in a wide variety of other possible social groups, such as those in pursuit of spiritual growth.
In my vlog today (about 50:00 long), I share some basics about what meditation is. I begin by explaining that meditation is a form of “centration” or “centering we can use to both calm our mind-chatter, and look much more deeply into ourselves that we possibly can when our mind is entangled with the world outside.
In the top-left region of my diagram (above), you see a series of three concentric rings (like a target). In the middle is an ‘I’, which symbolizes the ego-construct.
The ego both that which gives us a sense of boarder, barrier and self-definition, and our idea-plex; the complex of ideas we’ve intellectualized as a virtual map of our perceived reality. The ‘I’ symbolizes our individuality, our relationship with ourselves.
The second ring outward from the center represents our “WE” relationships; relationships in which we are relating to another, such as friends, family members, co-workers, etc.
The third ring outward from center represents the “ALL” level of relationship, which emerges whenever we engage more than one other person.
In my Personal Professional Spiritual Mastery Program language, our spiritual responsibility goes up with the addition of each success if person, and once we reach the ALL level; we are tasked as a teacher.
An example of the big step up from “WE” to “ALL” is when two people in love (WE) decide to have a child; the addition of the third brings them to the spiritual responsibility of “ALL.”
How and what parents impress upon their children will be mirrored back to them directly, and to the world. This is why I’ve always felt such a great responsibility as a teacher, knowing that for better or for worse, I would be emulated.
Ego and Shadow
If you think of the ego as a sort of “projector” that shines its “light of conscious awareness” on the object of it’s focus (as seen in the circular diagram in the center), such as the person in the “WE” ring, or the issues of the world in the “ALL” ring, we can see that by the principles of tai-chi, there is much more in the shadows so-to-speak that the ego is unaware of.
Simply stated, whenever we are “sure we are right about something,” we are very likely to overlook everything related to our objectification that we are unaware of or veiled from by our ego’s shadow.
Certainly, we’ve all had experiences such as hearing from others that “we acted unfairly, or selfishly, or rudely to so and so”…and were completely baffled by what we are hearing because in our own mind, we felt quite the contrary.
The ego generally brushes this off as “nonsense,” and keeps right on going (with its dogma), only to find such situations reoccurring in their life. It is these very situations that begin to “illuminate our shadow,” allowing us to become aware of what others are seeing and/or experiencing.
The ego’s shadow is also home to all that has been repressed as a means of either protecting ourselves from the pain of exposure, or to veil what we are in denial about; the largest river in Egypt also runs right through the ego…D-Nile…
Additionally, the shadow’s protective function is to constantly alert you to things that may look like a situation you’ve endured before and were hurt; I give an example of being bitten by a dog in my own life here.
Understanding What Meditation Is
I proceed to share my thoughts on what meditation is, and why it is that so many (particularly in the west where individuality is the dominant theme) have a hard time with it.
I explain how “Work-In” practices (as I call them) all have the capacity to turn your life-force energy inward. When life-force energy is no longer consumed by outer sense perception, there is a significant amount of energy liberated inwardly.
To help people better understand why their minds race, and often fill them with negative, scary, or even evil thoughts (such as committing suicide or killing someone else), I explain how emotional triggers and their complexes get activated.
Emotional triggers are represented as any stimulus that “triggers an emotionally charged reaction in us,” while a complex is a Jungian term that describes the information and energy activated by, and entangled by association with the trigger stimulus.
I go further, explaining that we can use meditation to explore our emotional triggers and complexes. We can come to “know them”, which means to “know ourselves.”
By doing so, we can identify (and often palpably feel) where we have energetic entanglements or armoring occurring in our body.
Through engaging our triggers and complexes, and using techniques like “Name it and tame it” (popularized by Daniel Siegel, MD), we can begin gaining more and more insight into ourselves.
We can gain a lot of clarity on our 50% of each relationship we have, and if we are spiritually brave enough, can come to find that some of what people have been telling us is indeed true.
This can be just the awareness one needs to begin a legitimate change process, becoming more congruent with their dream for themselves, and how they are now willing to be more aware in relationships with persons, places or things (such as addictions).
Meditation is something we can do alone, with our loved ones, or in groups. Above, you can see two of my clients and their beautiful baby practicing meditation together; imagine the impact we could have on the world and our collective future if this was as common a household practice as watching TV is today!
To help you get the best possible experience with your own meditations, I give several tips for meditating, and share ways for managing “monkey mind.”
I also share how meditation can help us cultivate meaning, spirit, and libido/will-power, as well as the often needed complement to will power, which is won’t-power.
There is a fair bit more in the vlog than I can write here without writing a small book, but I hope you all enjoy learning about how to meditate, why to meditate, and give it a try.
I finish by giving you the following suggested resources to further your meditation and healing practices:
1. How To Eat Move & Be Healthy! (see the section on zone exercises, which are active meditations)
2. The Last 4 Doctors You’ll Ever Need ebook (shares active meditations and guides you to establishing your own core values, and explains my 4 Doctor self-management system).
3. Mindsight, by Dan Siegel, MD (an excellent resource with a lot to offer)
I hope you enjoy my vlog today.
Bill Wolcott On Managing Your Food Dragons
Directly after I posted my blog: “Managing Your Food Dragons,” I sent Bill Wolcott an email letting him know I’d mentioned his name, and shared his perspective (and mine) on common misunderstandings of metabolic typing (and Primal Pattern eating in my case).
Because Bill has been a great teacher to me (I am also an MT Adviser), and people often take my comments out of context and pass them on, I wanted him to “hear it from the horses mouth so-to-speak.”
This is what Bill wrote back after watching my video blog:
“Dragons! … I love it. And so true!!! The body is ALWAYS speaking to us in so many ways. If we learn it’s language, we should never need a doctor.
While watching your discussion about Intuition, I thought about how much has changed in that regard for so many people in such a short time span.
IMO, humans have the same capacity for an “instinctual compass” as do animals. But instinct and intuition are dependent upon perception and sensation through both the gross and subtle nervous systems.
And while belief structures, value judgments and projections have always gotten in the way of our intuition and instinct, our current age is extraordinary to the point of mind-blowing in terms of the stressors and blocking factors that cloud and distort function throughout all levels of being.
In analogous terms, the sun is instinct and intuition. A glass of water is the body. A normal, natural, pure glass of water perfectly reflects the nature of the sun. But throw dirt and leaves and twigs and bugs and dragon poo into the glass of water and the sun becomes distorted to the point of unrecognizibility.
If you were to list on a sheet – make that a ream – of paper, the seemingly endless numbers of stressors and blocking factors that “invade our vessel” in this modern world of ours, is it any wonder that instinct and intuition can be refracted and distorted??!!?!?
The beautiful thing, of course, is that most everything can be reversed. The dirty water can be cleaned to reveal the sun underneath it all. And so it goes indeed that as toxic load reduces, as toxic burden lifts, as body chemistry balances, as metabolic efficiency improves, as function returns, as our natural state of optimal health unfolds, as the windows to perception are cleaned, instinct and intuition are rediscovered in a natural, effortless manner.
But that natural state is simply not present in those who keep company with the dragons of degeneration and therefore not everyone can or should rely on their instinct and intuition, particularly in terms of food choices. For more and more these days, the extent of toxic load is so great that autonomic ‘blocked regulation’ and ‘switching’ turn instinct and intuition topsy turvy. Sugar, soft drinks, junk foods, etc., “taste good” and “feel good” and unseasoned organic soup (for example) that explodes with wondrous multifaceted taste delights to the healthy palate either tastes “bland” or has “no taste” or “tastes bad.”
Thanks for thinking of me, Paul.
So good to hear from you!
Paul’s Commentary In Response:
I had another email exchange with Bill regarding his comment on instincts:
And so it goes indeed that as toxic load reduces, as toxic burden lifts, as body chemistry balances, as metabolic efficiency improves, as function returns, as our natural state of optimal health unfolds, as the windows to perception are cleaned, instinct and intuition are rediscovered in a natural, effortless manner.
When I wrote back to Bill, I shared this perspective (in paraphrase):
Yes, I understand your point. Here is my way of looking at it… Our instincts are always active, and proof of that are the symptoms themselves; symptoms are not the problem, they are the instincts of the body acting to create balance.
Indeed, people are loaded with blocking factors, and at large, have lost their ability to feel even the most core instincts (such as breathing, the need to urinate, defecate, and move their bodies).
All such departures from a harmonious relationship between ego-mind and self (body-mind-soul integration) produce symptoms. When we pay attention to what our instincts are telling us “as and through symptoms,” we are learning to reconnect, and have the ability to regain a relationship with our (healing) instincts.
One need only be honest with what they are seeing and feeling, and that is the first step to removing the ego’s shadow and acknowledging the truth (of their instincts) as seen in the mirror, of felt within (as fatigue, poor brain performance, weight problems, skin problems, etc.).
Bill responded and shared that “Yes,” he agreed with my perspective.
We both love what we do, feel a lot of empathy, compassion, and concern for people today, which inspires both of us to live and love fully as a means of perpetual self-integration (Self-Realization).
If you would like to know more about Bill Wolcott’s system of metabolic typing, you can read his book, The Metabolic Typing Diet, and you can visit his website, www.healthexcel.com to learn more about this amazing man and his offerings.
Rowena Kryder Merges With Great Spirit
Rowena Kryder, a very special teacher in my life, passed away Saturday, October 11, 2014 at her home in Reno, NV.
I have maintained contact with Rowena over the many years since I trained with her, and have used her a consultant on a number of occasions since.
She would do readings for me, or assess my art work and tell me what she perceived; Rowena was a very skilled shaman, and had multiple degrees, was a highly skilled artist, craftsman, builder, musician, and much more!
Above, you can see me in a week long course I took with her on the nine Egyptian light bodies. In this training, Rowena taught me what a mandala is, how to create one, and showed us all that there was a tremendous amount of unconscious information contained in a mandala.
The first mandala I ever created with her, had a huge impact on my life, sending me deep into artistic self-expression, producing literally hundreds of mandalas and art pieces since then.
She inspired my research into art therapy, and that inspiration has helped me not only grow tremendously, but has led to my being able to help many others through mandala art therapy.
Rowena was 74 at the time of my initial training and meeting with her in 2006, if memory serves me, but was still very vibrant, physically active, and mentally sharp.
My most recent contact with her was when she did a reading for me on my 2014 yearly mandala. In the past few months, I began having a recurring intuition that she was no longer with us.
I asked Vidya to see if she could track her down, and Vidya found an e-news bulletin announcing that she’d passed away.
Her family will be taking over her legacy, including her web site: www.creative-harmonics.org that showcases much of her works, books, audios, divination card decks (Her “Soul Fire” card deck is amazing!) art, and more.
Have a look. I think you’ll be amazed at how much brilliance, wisdom, and genus Great Spirit poured into this amazing human being.
For those of you ladies wondering what a woman can achieve in a lifetime, I highly recommend scouting her web site and reading about her.
I’m a man that has met and worked with some very intelligent, highly accomplished people in his life, including various monks and masters, but I can say with great confidence, Rowena had a level of knowledge and mastery you only see in someone like Carl Jung.
I will stay in contact with her through soul-connection. I know if anyone was ready to be fully present with the SELF, it was Rowena, and I know anyone ready to “be in Heaven, stays in Heaven.”
Ah Ho Great Spirit!
My Love and Abundant Blessings to You Rowena!
Thank you for all the powerful seeds of wisdom you planted in my soul.
When I breathe, know that a part of you is breathing too.
Mike Salemi Continues to IMPRESS Me!!
Those of you who follow my blog will know who Mike Salemi is, and know that I coach him in Russian Kettlebell Competition lifting.
I worked with Mike to get his Masters qualification in the 32 Kg class, and we are getting ready to take our second run at the monstrous goal of getting his Russian Masters in the 40 Kg class; he has to do 27 consecutive reps (without letting the bells ever touch the floor) with a 40 Kg kettlebell in each hand!!
In Mike’s first attempt, he completed 19 reps in the 40 Kg class, which was really impressive. Even one of the top Russian KB competitors, who was also a judge at the competition was impressed enough to pull Mike aside and inquire as to how he was training and shared positive comments on Mike’s performance.
We found that Mike needed to put on a fair bit of muscle to handle the demands of such heavy weights, for such a long period of sustained work; imagine trying to walk around with a 90 pound suitcase in each hand for 5:00 straight, and you’ll just be approaching the challenge this class poses.
Mike is improving consistently from training stage to training stage, and did a fantastic job on the testing I put him through Saturday (seen in photo above). He’s incredibly disciplined, and I feel grateful to have him as my student.
One of the ways I use art therapy in my life, and with my clients is to draw a line, or aspect of a new piece of art on each rest period in a training session. This activates the right-brain hemisphere, and helps bring one into a parasympathetic state, enhancing both rest and creativity.
The larger drawing you see (to the left of Don Miguel Ruiz’s 5 Agreements; that I must constantly remind my self of!) was created in a recent workout by Angie Lustrick and I.
Mike trained in my gym Sunday, and when I came into to train today, I got to see the lovely addition Mike had made (above the 5 Agreements).
I had explained why there was art on the board to him, but didn’t expect him to apply the method so quickly; but I should have knowing Mike!
I am very impressed with his beautiful, simple drawing. Not only did Mike integrate it with our art, his art is symbolically rich:
– Spirit is entering or exiting the crown
– The Divine, All-Seeing Eye is represented, symbolizing Unity Consciousness
– There is a lovely spiral, symbolizing spiritual development, or the expansion of energy into form.
– There is red (safety and security) energy rising up from what would be the gut (containing the 5 Agreements), which Mike’s spirit-being is breathing into the mystic Angie and I created.
– The being’s hair represents time, or life-in-time, and
– The heart is a symbol of both love and integration.
As you can see, Mike’s art expresses a much older soul than you’d see in most 28 year old kettlebell competitors, or most young men of his age.
All I can say is, “Great job Mike! Lovely! Impressive!…I’ll be sure to leave some colored chalk for you next time too!”
CHEK Course Completions
Holistic Lifestyle Coach Level 1 – Carlsbad with Angie Lustrick
This weekend, Angie Lustrick taught HLC1 to a lovely group of students, and assisted by CHEK Instructor Terrence Thomas, CP4.
Angie and Terrence really enjoyed sharing their love with the students, and Angie said they were all motivate and engaged in learning how to live fully, and holistically.
Thank you all for coming to learn holistic living from the CHEK Institute, Angie, and Terrence. I look forward to seeing each of you in HLC2 as soon as you are ready.
Angie will be teaching HLC1 in Halmstad, SE: February 20 – 22. If you are inspired to attend, please register here: www.chekeurope.com
Donal Carr will be teaching HLC1 in Sydney: February 13 – 15. You may register here: http://www.chekinstitute.com.au/
Well, other than a painting Angie and I are almost finished with (we still can’t decide if it wants more…), that brings you up to date in my life.
I hope you enjoy my vblog on meditation, and that you enjoy practicing the many methods I share in the suggested resources.
If you want to be notified of upcoming teaching events we are running through the institute, feel free to subscribe to our news letter, or look at our schedule of events at www.chekinstitute.com
Love and chi,
Paul Chek