Getting "older"
and
so what?


Life moves along.
We are present.
Or we aren't.


i couldn't do this in my forties,
can do it in my sixties
and
actually: so what?
am I present
the rest of the time

this moment
is my life

and yours
too

really fair
life
is
that way

To me,
being present
is like
four times
more sweet
than not being
so.

How is it for you?

I love the Anat Baniel Method
for Waking up to Now

and true thinking,
which means
creating brain concepts and solutions
of a "new' sort.

New is now.

And no matter how
many years,
the calendar
says we are

And mine says
65
today

we are always as young
as our joy
in life
ability to love
and enjoy others
and our
learning to
be think feel create enjoy serve
in new
ways

even slightly new
is amazingly
potent

good.

The Essentials of Real Health and Healing:

My Take

1. Meditate Full Time
Not on your butt, though that twice a day 10-20 minutes
would be nice.
All the time, while living.

2. Spend a couple hours a day outside.
Do walks.
Talks.
Writing.
Gardening.
Thinking.
Commute on your bike or feet.
You figure out how.

Enjoy these minutes/ moments.
Meditate in them.

3. Re-learn to learn how to move
with ease, grace, pleasure,
creativity and awareness.
Deepen sensing, body comfort, skill
and learning.
Vitality and learning at center of life.

4. Eat only raw foods.
(If you want to stop getting sick
or heal something
or lose weight
or increase radically overall vitality.)

Raw fish, meat, cheese, milk, keffir, eggs
okay/ good.

This puts you way out of social norm.
Oh, well.
Doing morning and evening raw
is fine wonderful great, too.

And being present,
you can love
those around you,
even as they look at you
like you are some sort of scary freak.

When you start to glow,
lose huge amounts of weight,
stop getting sick,
and look ten to twenty years
younger,
they might get a little more interested
and respectful.

Then again,
they might not.

Their business: see Work of Byron
Katie, below as stress undoing
part of real health.)

5. Write three pages a day.
Dreams, wishes, ideas, wondering,
exploring, undoing, investigating,
letting go, diving in, loving, gratitude,
creative ideas.

6. Undo all grudges, resentments, regrets.
All of them
The Work of Byron Katie
is supreme for this.

7. Care for and be of use
to
Other People
and
the Earth.



This is a lot.
This will do almost anything.

Again:
my opinion.

Friday and the Week ending

Everything ends

Weeks end

Life ends

Relationships end,
either by death
or parting

Tomato season ends

Winter ends

Summer ends

This blog
entry ends



I bet you knew that,
and breathing in,
that ends,
pause,
breathing out,
that ends,
pause.


Someone says something to us.

What about a pause.
A breathing.
An opening.

What if we spoke and responded from emptiness,
rather than the old chatter tapes.

Ah, wouldn't that be interesting.

Giving life
our minds
our lives
a pause

some space

after one thing
ends

and the next begins




And what, to do with yoga, weight loss, tai chi,
and health,
has this to do?

Actually a lot,
and I'll pause
and maybe you will, too,
and then you can pursue how yoga and stop pause
tai chi and stop pause
health and stop pause
even weight loss (take a bit, and stop pause)

can be great and wonderful
ways
to improve the sweetness
and now-ness
in your life.


Ciao,
Chris

Friday, hot Friday
Undoing Stress
and
Real Health

the news yesterday:
Marlie and I are going to work
toward moving apart

this could be stressful

this could be sad

this was "hard" yesterday

and to "deal" with stress
is one of the great gifts
of the Byron Katie work

to have stress
means to be at war
with What Is.

to have stress
means not to be comfortable
now

it usually means being
lost to
now

and on the contrary:
to be now
is the end of the Byron Katie work,
usually

and to be now
is to
re
turn to a state of ease
and clarity
a feeling
an experience
of our being-ness
right now

and so,
the Marlie and Chris
thing

what a nice story
and she's wonderful
and I'm wonderful

and "it" was hard yesterday
and will probably be hard
at times in the future

and here's what we did:
talked
talked with one talking
the other listening,
five minutes at a time
no interrupting

if someone interrupted,
they had to finish out the time
period

talking
listening

and then
for me,
two sets of 22 minutes
doing
the work:

the beliefs:
"This isn't a good time for this to be happening"

Is that true?
I don't know.

How do I react when I hold to the thought/belief that
"This isn't a good time for this to be happening"?

Hell, is how I react. Feeling bad, sad, mad,
victim, cheated, fooled, afraid
and more.

Who or what would I be without the thought that
"This isn't a good time for this to be happening"?

I'd be someone sitting here
now
breathing
and curious:
how is this going to play out?

I'd be alive
and grateful
to have a friend I can talk
while we work
out what all the stories
say is a "hard thing"

I'd be in love.
In love with Marlie,
and excited to have a love
that rises to the occasion of loving
her when she wants her path and my
path to go different directions.

I'd be in love.
In love with me,
and excited to love me, even in
the scary place of wants my path
to go in a different direction
than someone I deeply cherish
and love.

Good.

And the turn around to the statement:
"This isn't a good time for this to be happening"

This is the best time for this to be happening.

A weird
wild
wonderful world.

Over and over the choice:
control
or
love.

Over and over the choice:
going into War with What Is
or
Loving What Is.

Ah,
life.
a hot Friday,
a future that will go ????
a love that is here,
right now.

this is one
way
one amazing way
out of so called "stress"

Have a wonderful day....
it's good for your health


Here's Marlie
we're back in the digital cam nonsense,
fun nonsense



and now
let's have some words...

i like visitors
to come here
on a bike
and with the intention
of working in a garden
and following
their breathing

could that lead
to a wonderful
day?

well,
less visitors and more peace
and quiet
in the garden
for me

what creates a wonderful day
for you?
maybe you like a bunch of folk
around
or maybe you like
some time to yourself
or maybe both

maybe you like time
with your kids
or your pet
or your garden
or your feet
or your yoga
or your tai chi
or your music
or your walking

and
dancing
singing

and
hey
what about
eating

and all this can be done mindfully:
and then the real health can come in

eating slowly and with awareness
will lead to real nourishment

eating in the yum yum stuff
it in mode
is fun
at the time
and then...
sometimes the consequences aren't that
sweet

and if we are
here
right now
even reading this

then the possibility
of ongoing happiness
is available

and ongoing happiness
as opposed to thrash around
happiness

is what we were meant to
have
as living beings

happiness
and helping
others
and discovering the truth
of what a life
is

lots of possibilities
for a
wonderful day

wouldn't
you
say???

How to "Lose" Weight

stop waiting
to
be present
and
pay attention
to
the eating

the food
the tastes
what you put in
how fast
how you chew
shallow
what do you love about eating

how do you
know
when to stop

that's the start
and then:

eat lots of raw foods
maybe all

and then:
eat most
in the middle of
the day

and then:
combine starches with greens
and proteins with greens
and fruits alone or with raw protein

go slow
eat less
wait
and have
a snack
that has no
flour
no sugar

oh yeah:
drop flour
and sugar from the eating

lots to change

discover the thrill
of changing

why
wait???

Living Life is Good,
Even when you are tired

written by a tired
chris,
oh
well


to be healthy

walk

to be healthy

smile

to be healthy

try something
that you think is "hard"
to do

this could be:
being present when
unhappy

this could be:
making a phone call you are
afraid,
or reluctant to make

this could be:
loving someone who is
giving you a hard time

even yourself
if you are giving yourself a
hard time

this could be:
going to bed when tired

this could be:
taking a walk when
tired

this could be:
walking in silence
when you are wired

this could be:
writing
in the present
following the breathing
your breathing
me breathing
anyone's breathing
while writing
or reading or
reading (that's a hard one,
every tried it:
if not,
hey:
another hard thing to try)

why try to hard things:
like to breathe
and know you are breathing
when your chatter mind
wants you unhappy?

because
life is a rising up
through the muck
an exploration
of possibilities

any moment
in the
real
now
kind of place:
is impossibly wide open

even
this
silly
wonderfu
one

wonderful
one

won der full
one

one dear full
one two three

there you be

Waking Up
in the New Year

January 5
First Saturday in
the "New Year"
2008
Saturday
1-5 PM

every moment is "new"
if we are "now"

easy to say
to write
to blah, blah about

easy to "do"
easy to forget
a delight
an absolute delight to
be there
and stay there
as long as we can

yes

Come together
to sit in silence
to speak from the present
to move with awareness
to learn about learning
to be present
to find the peace
that is
always there
when
we are now

$50 before Jan. 1
$60 after

Eating Less

To become a sweet and fine
weight
just for you

sometimes
you have to wait
until you eat
again

do a little
something first
a Feldie lesson
a twenty minute walk
or yoga
or tai chi,
or meditation

it's good
to do
a little something
when we think
we "have" to have
something
just now

breaking fasts
means
to explerience
the joy
of letting the stomach
wait
a little bit

no big deal
to our body
huge deal
to our robot
mind

don't believe me?
Okay.
don't believe me

or come in
for hereandnow
consultations
and see
remember
learn what you once
knew as a child:

there is a food
much
dearer
and deeper
than
food

and
of course:
enjoy the heck
out of your food

and
of course:
eat slowly
enough
to
WAKE UP
whilst thou eat

Cow, belly down, ready to Moooo about:
Yoga for a Monday

Cat and the Cow

Cats, when they hiss, round up their backs, raising up their belly
and creating something like a half circle from
front feet to the back.

Cows, when they stretch out for a big old loud mooooo,
arch their backs, so the belly gets lower,
and the head gets higher.

Now, if a person did that,
we could have something like this:

1) For starters. Come to your hands and knees. Do this the normal mindless way, and then, hmmm, what would it be like to do it with awareness? Just how do your hands feel on the floor or Earth, and your knees? Are your feet flat to the ground or do you have your toes bent, in what they call the “for running” shape? Where are you looking? How does your spine feel? Are your hips over your knees, your shoulders over your hands? Fool around, play around, shift around, find what feels right for you today.

2) Breathe easily. Notice your breathing. Notice a happiness in breathing. See if there is any way that this simple act, the act of breathing can be easier and more pleasurable for you.

3) Now begin to arch your back and push out your belly as you breathe in. As you do this, lift your butt toward the sky, by tilting your pelvis so that your tailbone, too, is lifting. Do this each time you breath in, let yourself push forward with your belly, arch your back and tilt your butt to the sky. On the out breath, just come to “normal,” whatever that is.


4) Now try the opposite. As you breathe out, pull up your navel, lift the middle of your back toward the sky and tilt your tailbone under, as if you are going to tilt the front of your pelvis ( your sex) toward your face. Look down as you do this, so you are becoming nicely folded, with the center of your back being the high point of the curving you. This is the cat.


Cat, belly in, ready to hiss and ???strike


5) Alternate cat, with belly pulled in and back toward the sky, and cow, with the belly pushed forward and back arching so that shoulders and butt are the high points. Notice the tilting of your pelvis as you do this, and allow your head to come up when your butt comes up (the cow gives a big Mooooo), and allow your head to come down, looking between your legs when your pelvis tilts the other way.

6) Rest on your back and feel how you feel in your whole self. Notice your spine. Notice your breathing. Once again concentrate on being present and the happiness that comes from simple being at the moment with yourself.

Nine Eleven,
did the bad guys
get to Heaven?

Six years ago,
some "bad" guys,
flew some planes,
they wanted to stir up
a hornet's nest,
they did.

They wanted to kill some people
and themselves,
they did.

The wanted to stun
the Mightly America.
They did.

And what can that all teach us
about health?

What goes wrong
when love
goes wrong?

We marry someone,
highly in love
(if planning the wedding wasn't
too fractious),
and then x years later,
we can 't stand them.

Where did the love go?

A religion sets out to teach
people
to
"love thy neighbor,"
to
"love thy enemy,"

and then,
down the road,
decides
that it's time for a Crusade,
time to go kill some infidels
and take over some real estate.

The Crusades.
men,
with their big muscles
and reptile brains,
and iron
and steel
and horses,
and ideas of God
twisted into
reason for killing
go
off the War.

Killing, looting,
all the usual,
not very "holy"
these Holy Crusades

and guess
what?

big surprise:
revenge ideas
from the "infidels"
who now have their
own ideas about who
is an "infidel"

To love the Infidel
or kill him,
what a strange question
and to realize,
many, many answer it
is the least loving way


Some people say that all healing
requires forgiveness.

There are fun stories
like this:
woman on death bed,
just about to expire,
has the realization
that she doesn't need to hate
the guy
who jilted her at the alter
on their non-wedding da,
and when she forgives,
she wakes back to life,
is healed,
gets up and walks
into the rest of her life.

forgiveness
of others,

forgiveness of
ourselves.

they haven't been perfect.
we haven't been perfect,
and
ohmygod,
that's perfect.

does that mean we should
stay asleep
to our lives
and the present?

nah,
it's far easier
to love
and forgive
and be happy
in the present,

so we might as well
come on back home
to now
and life
and love
and laughter.

ciao,
chris

p.s.
did the bad guys
get to heaven?

this requires other
prior questions:
what is bad?
who are the bad guys?
is their heaven?
what is heaven?
what is the function of heaven?
what is this idea:
the kingdom of heaven is within (J.C.)?

Love, Mindfulness, Humor, Nature

Now, Nature, Love, Laughter

Especially
laughing at ourselves
and how we can make ourselves
so tense and worried
and constricted

Love:
of ourselves
and others
and nature

now
is when our lives take place

nature
is the sky and air we breathe
the earth we stand on
and grow our food in
and the trees
and the flowers
and the oceans
and waters
we
are bones
and two legged
and big brained
and stand and sit
and move in
gravity

gravity
and breathing
now
almost every now

the earth is always here
the sun is somewhere

a laugh
is just around the corner
waiting to bubble up

love is
in our hearts
flooding out
or
wanting to

it's a
good
world

HEALTH

Health is our wealth and it come from within. There is a lot of fuss around town about the new hospital, and if people really want to be healthy they could be walking and riding a bike to all these meetings.

Health comes from a balanced and happy life. Lots of time in the present. Lots of time outdoors. Lots of time doing what we like and love. Lots of time learning and loving.

And moving.

A life of sitting around all the time and driving around the rest, with standing just something to do at shops and waiting in lines for the next place to sit down: that's not really a life to me.

Our bodies were designed to move.

If we've forgotten, that's what Feldenkrais and yoga and tai chi and dancing and walking and sex are for. Get out there and experience the joy of being a human being.

If not sex, go for hugs. If you have no one to hug you, ask a stranger. Say, "I'd like a hug." We'd all like a bunch of hugs a day, a bunch of laughs, a bunch of learning.

To live in the present, to connect to nature and to love, I call these three the core of happiness, and that's one of the core's of health. Happy mind, happy body, connection to nature, we can live wonderful lives. The only thing that might be in the way could be some habits.

So we experiment.

We come to the present so we aren't bustling around like a robot.

We try new things, we learn how to learn again from Feldenkrais and from our own joy in discovery.

Life is wonderful.

In that frame, it's almost impossible not to be healthy.

---

PLEASE BE WELL:


Pleasure
Ease
Awareness
Sensitive Strength
Enlightenment

BE

Waking up to now.
Embracing Change.
Learning to learn.
Loving to move, improve and transform.

THE IMPORTANCE OF HAPPINESS

Happiness is how we like to be, and yet many of us spend big chunks of our days, and hence our lives, either unhappy, or in some sort of busy trance where we are neither happy nor unhappy, but mainly just "busy." On the way to the market, thinking of what we will buy. In the market, thinking of what we'll make for dinner. Eating the dinner and thinking about wishing we didn't have to clean up afterwards. After dinner some sort of event to rush off to, or perhaps a time to blotto the mind with television.

Oh, well.

And what is it about happiness that is so good for us?

When we are happy we are not striving and complaining and wanting for something else. We are here, now and in a state of fullness and joy about being here and now. This is good for our health, and good for our soul, and good for the people around us, and good for the world.

Let's bypass all the arguments that might say you can't be in bliss all the time, and just think about this: when was the last time we were just here and now and happy?

And when were we happy today?

And when were we happy yesterday?

And what did those moments of happiness feel like? And what did we do, or forget to do, that helped create those moments of happiness?

You know, so much of psychology, so-called, is pouring over our unhappiness. What if we just took the other approach and put awareness on recalling and increasing our moments and times and hours and days of happiness?

Wouldn't that be a step toward a sweeter life, a life that would be nicer for ourselves and easier on those around us, and also, since we wouldn't need to rush and buy so often, much kinder to the Earth as well?