Counseling with Choice Theory

Counseling with Choice Theory by William Glasser

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

In Counseling with Choice Thoery, William Glasser demonstrates how to communicate with people who are going through difficulty in ways that help them see the power of choice in their lives. Time and time again, Glasser shows people that when they honor the fact that they can only control their own actions, they become liberated from external control. When we stop trying to control others, we can better harness our energies to work with what we can influence: our own thoughts and behaviors.

This book is written in an anecdotal style that makes for easy reading. It is geared somewhat to the clinician who works with people undergoing great difficulties. However, anyone who finds Choice Theory a useful paradigm would gain greater understanding through reading this book. By demonstrating how the same perspective can be brought to bear on a wide variety of human suffering, Glasser shows the effectiveness of his theory in a very practical way. I feel far more confident in working in this paradigm after reading this book.

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Energy Anatomy

Energy Anatomy by Caroline Myss

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Carolyn Myss doesn't pull any punches when she describes how the ways we invest our energy affect our emotional and spiritual health. Blending symbolism that draws from her childhood in the Catholic Church, the Chakras of Indian tradition and the Qaballah gives her a framework with which to describe the various ways we disengage from our own power. This framework also gives useful clues toward reengaging with this power and developing a congruence that nurtures our further growth and healing.

She spends a good deal of time delving into the ways we waste our energy and power, and how to recognize when we do this. She uses the language of economics, describing how we finance thoughtforms with our energy- even things we'd rather not be contributing to. When we really take a look at where our energy is going, we can get a sense of how much more energy we could have if we stop financing thoughts that don't serve us.

If you don't mind challenging questions and uncomfortable answers that are simultaneously liberating, this book may invite you to a new perspective on your situation. I listened to this as an audiobook, and found that listening to Carolyn Myss speak her own truth was an experience worth taking the time for.

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Unhappy Teenagers

Unhappy Teenagers: A Way for Parents and Teachers to Reach Them by William Glasser

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

In Unhappy Teenagers, William Glasser uses Choice Theory to help families navigate their way through some rather difficult situations. From suicidal thoughts to anorexia, he looks at the problems teens face as issues of control. Choice Theory regards everything we do as a choice, even behaviors we would never want to admit to consciously choosing.

From this vantage point, he encourages parents and counselors to look at the actions teens take as attempts to assert some control over their own lives. Rather than exerting more external control mechanisms, such as punishment and rules, he suggests recognizing that we really can't control other people. In doing so, we can empower teens to recognize the choices they are making and learn how to make choices that better serve them.

Glasser feels that relationships are the fundamental thing. Since we can't control teens when they are out of earshot (or even when they are nearby), we need to control how we treat them, so that they will continue to feel that we are in their corner. By supporting the relationship and our connection with them, we can help them to develop their relationship with their own inner knowing. When they no longer feel that we are against them, they can free up their energy to figure out just exactly what it is that they are for.

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MIndfulness Based Cognitive Therapy for Depression

Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy for Depression: A New Approach to Preventing Relapse by Zindel V. Segal

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

In Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy for Depression, the authors bring an Eastern approach to managing the increasingly common issue of depression. Just last week, an article in the news proclaimed that 1 in 10 Americans are on antidepressants , and that most of them do not seek therapy in conjunction with pharmaceutical treatment. This is unfortunate. "Antidepressants drugs do not provide a long-term cure. Their effects do not outlast their use." They can be instrumental in keeping a depressive episode from becoming severe, but it is important to do therapeutic work as well in order to change the way the brain is functioning. This is where MBCT has proven itself successful.

It turns out that "negative thinking could itself cause a depression… [and] could certainly maintain the episode once it started." This tendency to ruminate on negative feelings does not help, and is in fact, counterproductive. Unfortunately, people in depressed states have a tendency to do just that, which can feed their feelings of hopelessness and despair. Rather than feeding or fighting these feelings, MBCT helps people develop a new relationship with their thoughts.

Mindfulness based practice teaches people to watch their mental and somatic processes intentionally and non-judgmentally. This observation can help people to understand that their "thoughts are not facts." As Jon Kabat-Zinn explains, "It is remarkable how liberating it feels to see that your thoughts are just thoughts and that they are not 'you' or reality." In fact, a core skill of MBCT is "to teach the ability to recognize and disengage from mind states characterized by self-perpetuating patterns of ruminative, negative thought." This invaluable skill teaches people how to direct their attention and to reduce the amount of energy they expend in these self-defeating habits.

Although there are definite benefits to mindfulness based practice, it is important to remain non-attached to outcome. It is "easy to believe deep down that success is achieved when we are with the breath and failure occurs when the mind wanders." In fact, one of the most useful ideas in this book was the concept that "it is just as valuable to become aware that the mind has wandered and to bring it back as to remain fixed on the chosen object of attention." In our goal-oriented culture, it is easy to fall into the trap of self-judgment, even while meditating. One can become overly concerned with whether they are 'doing it right' as they internalize the 'God-as-Judge' meme. This is why it is so important to approach this work with a sense of acceptance and self-compassion. Even long-time meditators have wandering thoughts. They just have developed a different relationship with them. They are aware that "just because your thoughts are compelling, doesn't make them true." Once we understand this truth, we can stop identifying so strongly with our thoughts. This can take the charge out of our inner critic and help us tune in to a different channel that supports and nurtures our growth and healing.

Understanding that it is the process of returning to the breath itself that helps us remember to return to a grounded and centered state in times of stress. This practice of returning is the most useful thing I learned in this book.

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The Mindful Path of Self-Compassion

The Mindful Path to Self-Compassion: Freeing Yourself from Destructive Thoughts and Emotions by Christopher K. Germer

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Love says, "I am everything."

Wisdom says, "I am nothing."

Between these two my life flows.

~ Nisagradatta Maharaj

Our culture teaches us that happiness depends on external circumstances, but that is not really the case. In The Mindful Path to Self Compassion, Christopher K. Germer, PhD., states that 2/3 of people without chronic back pain display the same structural dysfunction as those experiencing pain. In another study, job satisfaction was found to be a predictor of developing low back pain. Buddhist psychology instead teaches that it is our relationship with our pain that is the problem, and that acceptance may be a more effective strategy than fighting against our troubles. "What we resist, persists."

Germer offers simple and effective strategies for changing our ingrained habits of resistance. Mindfulness meditation is neurological reprogramming that helps us cultivate a calmer and less reactive state. Since "Neurons that fire together, wire together," we can practice paying attention to what we are doing. This allows us to be more intentional in our lives on many levels. By practicing intentional attention in formal sitting practice, we can develop habits of mindfulness that can serve us in times of stress and difficulty.

Having meditated before, I was surprised to feel how different a consistent Metta practice could make me feel. Practicing being kind to myself has transformed my relationship with other people as well. I find myself more able to be present. Even better, I am remembering to judge myself less when I make mistakes, and to help stop others from beating themselves up as well. I think Germer said it very well: "Give yourself the attention you need so you don't need so much attention." This frees up our energy to be more present for others, and lets kindness move through us to do good work in the world. After all, "[t]ransforming relationships with others starts with us; it is an inside job."

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Learning Is What We Do

Humans can't help but learn; it is what we are built to do. Every experience, every word, every thought and every action trigger physical patterns of activity in our bodies and brains. Patterns that are repeated become more persistent, habitual, and long-lasting. This can create a situation in which we feel molded by our world, trapped by our jobs, and lost in our patterns of relationship as we replay old patterns as if by instinct.

This view lacks one vital component: the power of intention. Intention is movement of intelligence through the system, looking for ways to order and understand experience. This intelligence works whether we harness it or not, which is evidenced by the dysfunctional coping strategies adopted by people across all ranges of activity. Whether challenged physically, emotionally, or mentally, humans do the best they can under a given set of circumstances. This is an essential tenet of William Glasser's Choice Theory, as is the idea that if we developed better tools we could make more effective and beneficial choices in our lives.

This theory maintains that, "for all practical purposes, we choose everything we do, including the misery we feel." He goes on to demonstrate that this is, in fact, the only thing we really do have control over, and that by investing energy in developing these skills we can move towards a healthier and happier life. Choice theory provides wonderful tools for discovering ways to move with ease in our relationships with others. We can own our impact on our world, and learn to navigate our way such that we ease conflict around and within us by really tuning in with attention to our experience.

This is as true on a physical level as it is on an emotional one. We adapt to our experiences, such as injury and repetitive strain and also to the emotional conditions of our internal environment. As our bodies reconfigure themselves around the activities and states we experience, we lose track of good functioning and consider our stress and tension to be the baseline normal.

Again, this can be remedied by education. From a Somatic viewpoint, our much myofascial pain comes from lack of full embodiment due to somatic amnesia. Pain causes people to withdraw attention from the injury, which removes that region from conscious control. This causes painful patterns to coalesce into habits. Instead of running from our discomfort, we can invest attention to our process and use intention to reconnect with the lost parts of ourselves. As people learn to direct their attention to their experience, they can tune in to their inner wisdom and understanding. This knowledge can tell us what our bodies need, if a situation is healthy or if communication is authentic and real. Our senses can tell us so much about our experiences, but we need to invest energy in learning how best to use them.

We can use this knowledge to chart a healthier course through life. We can discover if our chronic pain is telling us we need to find a different livelihood, or that a relationship needs attention in order to heal. We can listen to what people are really saying, and be more intentional in our interactions. We can create space that supports all of our needs, and put our monkey minds to use in creating a life worth living.

5/21/2011

The Chalice and the Blade: Our History, Our Future

The Chalice and the Blade: Our History, Our Future by Riane Eisler

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Eisler reframes the age old idea of the 'war between the sexes' into something equally polarizing, yet more inclusive. Many people have examined the problems of humanity as an inevitable outcome of our innate aggression and territoriality. Our history clearly how the forces of war, colonialism, nationalism and greed have shaped the world as we know it.

On closer inspection, however, the picture is less clear than we have long believed. I was surprised to learn that archaeology, as a science, only became serious after World War II. Before this time, Egyptology and the like were mostly a front for imperialistic grave robbers, vying for the shiniest addition to their national museums. Dating of artifacts was done through assumption until the advent of carbon 14 technology and dendrochronography. All of this combined created a vision of the past that was heavily tainted by the expectations and experience of those who unearthed ancient sites.

Proper dating technology has painted a new picture of the ancient past. It seems that in many parts of Old Europe, there were Goddess worshiping cultures that harnessed their intelligence towards creating healthy communities. In these cities, sometimes occupied for millenia, there is no evidence of weapons, ruler-kings, or the glorification of war. In fact, some sites were occupied for thousands of years without any evidence of war. These cultures showed a surprising equality between the sexes, as well as a lack of hierarchy. The concentration of wealth by the powerful that we take for granted is something that came much later.

As the nomadic herding tribes migrated into the regions occupied by these Neolithic culture, they found great wealth and little defensive technology. The cities were rather ripe for the plucking. Once this occurred, people reorganized their focus, working hard to develop weapons technology for offensive and defensive purposes. This arms race continues in the present day.

The unfortunate side effect of this race is that early technological advances in city planning, in art, and other technologies of peace were put aside in the face of this new human created danger. Earlier assumptions about the dates of some primitive looking artifacts turned out to be wrong; after war came to these cultures, their technological development came to a halt, and much technology was lost and forgotten.

These peaceful Neolithic cultures predate Sumer by millennia. Sumer is often recognized as the cradle of civilization; it would be better to describe it as the cradle of modern culture of warfare. Eisler calls these cultures "dominator cultures", whereas the earlier Goddess worshiping groups engaged in a partnership model. By the time that Sumer was in full swing, the partnership model had been overcome by the warrior culture of the nomadic steppes.

As we hurtle into the 21st century, we spend unthinkable amounts of resources coming with better ways to kill each other. The amount of resources spent on military budgets worldwide could transform our world if we put them to better use. We have the technology to feed, clothe, and house people, but as long as we surrender to the dominator model, resources will continue to be concentrated in the hands of the few while the many suffer from need and lack. Eisler urges us to give up the old ways of aggressive ranking and warfare, and create a new world in which we find solutions that work to build communities, create prosperity, and improve the quality of life for our entire human family.

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Last Child in the Woods

Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder by Richard Louv

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Richard Louv doesn't pull any punches when he describes the growing distance between today's average American childhood and the direct experience of nature. Screen time takes up increasing amounts of our children's time, often to their detriment. Whether in terms of academic achievement or physiological and emotional health, studies show that the direct open-ended experience of nature confers innumerable benefits to human beings of all ages. Unfortunately, our children are growing up in a world of increasingly limited access to the experiences that many in previous generations take for granted. Lawsuits make tree-forts a relic of the past, while the fear of abduction and injury keeps many kids on a short leash.

Luckily, there are forces at work that are planning for a brighter future. Louv explores the success that some European countries have had with greening their urban spaces. Cities across America are working hard to preserve their open spaces, and to create more livable communities. Sustainability has evolved from a buzzword to a metric of public planning. Meanwhile, educators are discovering the real benefits of natural experience, and these ideas are being increasingly incorporated into schools and communities. He describes programs that connect farmers and hatcheries with schools, giving students opportunities for hands-on experience that can prove life changing. He paints a picture of the future in which our kids (and their kids) actually figure out how to divide resources, land, and responsibility in ways that are truly sustainable and foster health, connection, and community. We have the resources, technologies, and responsibility to make this a universal priority for all of us right now. It may be what saves us all.

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The Wisdom of Your Cells: How Your Beliefs Control Your Biology by Bruce H. Lipton

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This audiobook is delivered as a series of lectures which covers and reinforces some of the material from Biology of Belief. We are shown the fallacy in our thinking which portrays as victims of circumstance and products of random chance. Lipton goes further in this book, discussing evolution on a species and planet wide scale, and the ability we have, right now, to pick a new trajectory and get ourselves out of this mess we are in. He offers ideas on improving health, on a physical, relational, and community level, encouraging the reader to engage the power of their own attention to envision a brighter future.

If you have always suspected that quantum physics implies much about the nature of biology, neurology, and sociology, this book will give you much to ponder. I recommend this book to anyone who is interested in taking the helm of their own healing voyage and improving this world we live in together.

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On the Quantum Nature of Education

I keep bumping up against the fallacy of reductionism as I stretch to find the words that define my learning process. I am a wave AND a particle; sometimes I work with trajectories, while at other times I am fully in each particular moment of NOW. When I focus on one, the other becomes difficult to fathom. In each now, attention is what matters, being present before it all slips away into a never-ending progression of moments. But without trajectory, there is no story and no context. These are essential to meaning, learning, and connection. Focus too much on trajectory, however, and it is easy to become ungrounded and unpresent.

When I am learning best, I am fully engaged in process, not in describing that process. Something is lost in translation when I look to pin down my experience into some sort of tangible shape. Yet this is necessary in order to fully integrate that which I learn, to reflect and consider this process in context.

It seems that an important lesson is that learning is organic, and rarely conforms to modern notions of time, haste, efficiency, production, or regularity. It is more like a tide, alive with a billion unknowable presences.

I am trying to find the patterns in my experience, looking for a framework to measure my balance by. I keep trying to overlay various systems upon my experience: Five Element Theory; Bloom's Taxonomy; Glasser's Five Basic Needs; the Chakras; the Four Elements; the Four Directions; the Kabbalah; Multiple Intelligences. None of these are complete on their own, but each system brings a certain palette and texture to self-observation that can be used to propel further growth and understanding.

The Four Questions revisted

I am learning more than I can put into words, and words do my learning little justice. Yet that is the language of academia, and a right and proper way to record the experience of growth and change.

I set out this quarter to discover how to approach my life more sustainably. I read to discover a sense of context, and Zinn and Freire both inspired me to be a less complacent participant in this play of now that our world is dancing. My experience fits into a larger picture of power, class, and what it means to be human in ways that give my life texture and pattern. Yet I know the power of intention; harnessing this is harnessing the soul of our divinity. We can do this with our emotions, with our minds, and with our bodies. We can feed that which feeds us. We can stop feeding our trolls. We can become our own most beautiful creations.

This is the heart of sustenance: how do we invest our attention in ways that bring us the most bounteous harvest of existence? How do we make systems that keep energy flowing and creativity possible?

Energy moves in circles and waves. I think when we can recognize rhythm and account for it in living, we have a better chance of finding wellness. There are days and nights, winter and summer, ebb and flow. These things exist in a circular spectrum, where each part flows into the next. I feel that our culture refuses to recognize the power in these rhythms, and seeks to make rigid that which should move.

In order to be sustainable, I need to be able to flex more gracefully in the context of my life. I feel that self-employment is the only way in which I will be able to create that sort of movement.

On Fascia and Social Change

Fascia.

Fascia is the network of collagen fibers in ground substance that shapes our flesh. Is there a metaphor in this about personal change and social change? Can we think of humans as the fibers in the mesh of the universe, creating shape and meaning, and binding together in many different ways for many different aims. How then, can we affect this human fascia, finding the uncomfortable places and learning how to experience them with greater awareness and intent?

Furthering this metaphor, scar tissue is where the friction has made a mess of human relationship, and the aim of deep tissue work is to align the fibers so they have a more functional relationship with one another. Less friction creates less resistance, and this is true on a physiological level as well as on a relational level.

Choice Theory is like deep tissue for relationships. When we learn how much influence we have over our experience, we can make better choices so that relationship itself becomes something of a flow generator. We learn how not to catch on one another's rough spots and find the places where we line up and work well together.

My latest thoughts

I have been wrapped in diversity studies lately, and have been pondering the effects of culture, gender, race and class. I am learning that people are all unique in their interpretations of this; every experience paints an entirely new picture of what it means to be human. I think it is important to also remember that we are not just these bodies, and in this way are transcendent of culture. We are all beings of Spirit, fractal expressions of the Source in all of it's creative glory. This expresses the way in which we are One, and connected. People are so easily wrapped up in identity because that is what we use to experience existence. But there is a place where there is no you and no me and this is the place I want to remember, because it makes dealing gracefully with the ingrained habits and responses of ego much more possible.

I have been thinking a lot about the ideas of liberation that Paolo Freire discusses in his Pedagogy of the Oppressed. It seems to me that the only thing that can lead to our mutual salvation is the realization of each human potential. Only the individual really knows how to chart their own path; we can, however all be resources to each other to support, educate, and connect with others on their journeys. An important first step that I have been working on this quarter is the banishment of hierarchacal relationships in my life, where I can manage to effect this. One place where I can access this road to power is my professional life as a massage therapist. I currently work as an employee, where I rent out my labor to another for a fixed fee, while he charges whatever he can for my time. This bothers me on ethical grounds, and it interferes with my authentic relationship with my clientele. I admit that this road is easier in many ways; someone else is taking care of many details which are bothersome and boring. I don't have to worry much about advertising, and I can save thinking about work for the days I am in the office.

Yet I am constrained in what I do, and unmotivated by the lack of possible improvement of financial possibilities as an employee. I have effectively reached my earning limit, unless I choose to devote more hours of my life to a situation in which I feel constrained by my environment. If I choose, however, to devote myself to my practice as a way of serving and moving through my community, I know I will move to the next level of professionalism, process, and practice. I can negotiate each relationship using what I have learned from William Glasser's Choice Theory, and know that the arrangements I agree to are a result of my own efforts at authentic relationship and communication.

This is all as intimidating as it is exciting. Perhaps that is the same thing? I know that going into practice for myself is a new way of being present for my community, without the buffer of someone else to arrange the work. This is scary because I am a private person, and value the time when I am answerable to no one. This will change the scope of that, but I feel it is the only way to put the call out to the Universe that I am ready to dance the big dance, where we give and receive and twirl and sing and make experience for each other to savor.

The compost I am adding to the soil of my mental processes is the idea of fascia. Fascia: my favorite aspect of anatomy. There was a fascial conference in 2009 in which the very nature of anatomical perspective was shaken out of its reductionist roots. Thinking about muscles as isolated structures has no real meaning as they never act in isolation. The fascia, too, is a singular connected mesh of collagen and fluid that creates the shape of our flesh and the patterns of our movement. Thinking in this way informs my professional work in ways that create more lasting change. It is good to know that academia is supporting my approach to the work I do, which is something that I have sometimes struggled to express in more conventional assessment language.

Studying small business administration, education, diversity and somatics will make me a better asset to my community, increasing my ability to help others get from where they are to where they want to be.

The Four Questions

1: What will I learn?

I will learn how to create a more sustainable life.

2: How will I learn it?

Through reading, reflective writing, dialogue, and practice, I will explore what sustainability means to me on a personal scale. I will explore Wellness as an integral key to making positive change in the world, examining the ideas of sustainability in terms of Cognitive, Emotional, and Somatic experience.

3: How will I know that I learned it?

I will keep a journal recording my readings and explorations. I will make a bibliography listing the texts I found useful in my studies. I will keep a blog, to share what I learn and think with others.

4: What difference will it make?

As an educator and health care professional, I am poised to facilitate a healing change in consciousness in a diverse population of people. Increasing embodied awareness in myself will give me authentic knowledge and skills to share with my community. Helping create a future in which we get out of our heads and into our bodies will put us in touch with inner knowledge that can heal our bodies, our relationships, and our planet.

Week 4

Reading about education and psychology is fun. Contemplating how best to learn, and how best to relate can be a real investment in future growth and happiness. Looking for ways to maximize learning potential in my own education and that of my children can only serve us in our self-realization. Relating with intent helps me to navigate the practice of Life.

And I do need practice! Living and learning in the crucible of a homeschooling college family creates ample opportunity to rub up against each others rough edges. Keeping a goal of 'growing together' in mind helps me navigate the intense emotions that all humans are prone to.

Week 3 Wrap-up

This week has been a flurry of activity ending in a somatic collapse. I have been learning incredible amounts of information about Real Estate, finance, local land and microclimates. I have yet to find a home to live, but I have learned much about myself and my bioregion. I have also learned much about the process of becoming 'landed' and feel empowered by this knowledge.

I have been enjoying Choice Theory by William Glasser, and doing my best at keeping his ideas in my hear when I relate to my family and my community. When I remember these tools, life flows more easily.

I have also been working very hard to set up my business, a fundamental ingredient in my own financial sustainability. Creating my own livelihood in relation with my community feels far more stable than relying on some corporate of government infrastructure. Although, to be fair, as a credentialed health care provider, I am still relying on this infrastructure in many ways. I do, however, think it is essential to remove as many layers of hierarchy from the healing relationship as possible, and as a sole proprietor, I will be in a better position to do this.

attention

Attention is the food of the gods. What are you doing with yours?

Week 2 Wrap-up

I have been listening to the audiobook versions of Michael Pollan' Second Nature and Bruce Lipton's Spontaneous Evolution. Lipton tackles what he calles the '4 Myths of the Basal Paradigm,'

1: Only Matter Matters

2: Reductionist thinking (if we break it into small enough bits, we will understand it better)

3: The Law of the Jungle (which ignores the role cooperation has played in evolution)

4: We are victims of our Genes (which modern epigenetic studies are shedding new light upon)

Lipton does a wonderful job of pointing out the fallacies in the above ideas. Unfortunately, these ideas are much of the foundation of our modern way of life, and inform everything from economics to healthcare. Lipton suggests a new way of perceiving, supported by science, that empowers us to take a more active role in the evolution of our selves and our communities. Science no longer needs to be at odds with Spirit, and we can all gain much from this shift.

This epigenetic and self-evolutionary paradigm shift melds nicely with Freire's Pedagogy of the Oppressed, of which I have read the first part, and which argues convincingly that the only way out of oppression is through the work of one's own self-education.

I am reminded of a Weepies lyric, "And in the end the only steps that matter are the ones you take all by yourself."

It took re-reading Zinn for me to accept that certain things in my life were due to power differentials that I willingly, if unknowingly, submit to. Recognition that my uneasy relationship with the economic world is a symptom and result fo the forces of large power hungry organizations has inspired me to take a more active role in my relationship with money, economics, and my own future. My previous thinking had often perceived 'houses' and 'money' as part of the realm of 'what other people have.' This doesn't have to be the case, but it is up to me to make the shift.

In this regard, shopping for a home is my own praxis of economic and community stabilization and investment. I am embarking on a big, legal, paperworkish sort of endeavor, like what corporations do. Through owning the process and making it mine, I am learning how to level the playing field somewhat, and empowering myself to move more effectively into a sustainable future.

New Directions in Mindfulness

Spring is here, and with it comes an upwelling of new ideas, energy, and inspiration. This blog started off as a record of my journey in my Fall program, Movement and Mindfulness. Mindfulness is always a useful tool in our growth and healing, and I am excited to bring the lessons of my last program forward into my new explorations in education.

In the program Ceremony: Relating Hospitably to the Land, it is my intention to bring the power of presence and attention to the study of education, wellness, and right livelihood. Creating a sustainable life is the foundation of empowerment; through our conscious attention we can learn to craft the life we wish for, and create a strong foundation for doing good work in the world. There are many aspects to this journey, and it often seems to me that indeed, everything relates to this work.

In this first week, I am reading ‘A Young People’s History of the United States’ by Howard Zinn. I have read the adult version before, and am reading this one as both a review for myself and a preview for my 11yo son. My husband is reading the original, as well. We are already having family seminar time about the material, and I am excited to finish it up and let my son have a turn with it.

Already, there is much to think about. This country we live in has so many faces, and so many stories. Many of them are quite harsh. I am often uncomfortable with this sort of material, as a descendant of both the conquered and the conquerors. It brings up many feelings, and helps me understand some of the things I am seeking in life

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A Young People's History of the United States (Enhanced Omnibus Edition)

The Brain That Changes Itself

I just finished The Brain that Changes Itself by Norman Doidge, M.D. This book provides an overview of cutting edge research that is helping people rewire their brains, often from serious and debilitating situations. Much of this research illustrates how adaptable our brains are, and how misled we have been by our own assumptions of how the brain works. Modern medicine is bumping up against the edges of our Newtonian model of physiology. There are whole new realms of research opening up just because someone asked a question previously thought unthinkable. People are recovering from chronic strokes, learning to see with their tongues, and manipulating robotic arms with their minds. The implications are mind-altering and inspiring, and in fact, will help increase the neuroplasticity of your own mind as well.

Sustainability in the home, continued

I read about the idea of the 'post-modern family' today, in which members live under the same roof, yet share little in common interests, activities or intimacy.

I am seeking a different kind of life.

I want to rekindle the hearthfire, rediscover nurture through connection with nature, around and within us. For we are nature, and we are part of all around us. We are organelles in the body of Gaia. When we recognize and nurture this connection, it can feed us. In fact, it needs to feed us, or our souls wither and ache. Only when that energy is flowing are things able to function as they should.

Our society is so virtual; we send our attention far and away from who and what we are. No wonder it's all falling apart.

The foundation needs to be love and conneciton and presence. Jesus talked about this too, and he was spot-on. Or as Franti says, "Love is da shit that makes life grow."

Spring Quarter: Sustainability in the Home

After spending my first two quarters at Evergreen reinforcing skills and concepts that are useful to me in my professional life, I am looking forward to spending my Spring looking at the microcosm of my family as a place to delve into the ideas of conscious parenting, effective education, somatic awareness and nutrition. These seem to me to be the fundamental parts of sustainable living- the Yin to the Yang of Right Livelihood. Ecological living is at it's heart about finding harmony with the Big Picture. But the Big Picture contains the Little Picture. In fact, it contains all the Little Pictures. Sometimes I think that the Little Picture doesn't get the attention it deserves anymore, and that touches the heart of the modern problem.

I want to spend Spring practicing presence, relating harmoniously, nurturing myself and my family with proper attention and nutritious food. And on this hyperlocal level, I will make the world a better place, one little picture at a time.

Somatics: The Myth of Aging

In his book Somatics, Thomas Hanna, Ph.D. tackles the medical assumption that pain and degeneration are the inevitable result of the aging process. Not only that, he offers a simple plan to recover lost flexibility, balance, and posture. His exercises, he assures us, will bring us back into connection with our lost mobility while reducing pain and discomfort. It almost sounds too good to be true. But is it?

Most people suffer from pain and discomfort at some point in their lives. When this follows an injury, it is easy to watch the play of cause and effect. This can allow us some feeling of control during our healing process as we regain lost function and strength. When we don’t know why we hurt, we can feel like victims of our own bodies. When we ask our doctors for help, they offer drugs for pain, and tell us to buck up and accept our lot. We are growing older, after all. What else should we expect? Everyone knows that bodies wear out eventually.

Hanna challenges this idea. He points out that although this is true for many people today, there are also many circumstances in which people maintain function and vitality right up to the very end. Gerontologists call this “successful aging.” Rather than dismiss such cases as oddities, Hanna thinks we should embrace them as possibilities, and learn how to make our own lives turn out like theirs.

Five case studies are reviewed in the course of the book. In each case, through guided movements, flexibility is restored and pain is alleviated. Several of the cases are quite extraordinary; one woman regained the use of her frozen shoulder after just one treatment, despite almost two unsuccessful years of conventional treatment. Another case involved a man who had not been able to straighten his knee for almost two years. He rediscovered how to control what he had once given up as lost.

Although Somatics is full of information for the professional, it is very accessible to the lay reader as well. He uses clear language that anyone can understand. After describing commonly seen habits of movement, he gives us the keys to unlock our own blockages through simple exercises that almost anyone can do. These slow movements rebalance our structure by bringing awareness to the way we actually move our bodies, and teach us how to develop more balanced ways of moving.

The final chapter includes his basic movement explorations. His exercises are simple, mild, and brief. He offers a series of lessons, in which the reader may explore different areas of the body. By encouraging the reader to reacquaint themselves with their movements, he invites us to take our own steps on this healing path. And if my brief explorations with this work are any guide, change really is possible. I would recommend this book to anyone who is looking to find a new sense of vitality, movement, and freedom in their body. And really, who isn’t?