coming clean

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Discovery consists of seeing what everybody has seen and thinking what nobody has thought. ~ Albert Szent-Gyorgyi

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[henry]

i'm not sure "coming clean" is in my repertoire, but this is my response to steven's goading. i was a paying "seminarian" at esalen for various periods of time in '74,'75,'76. most of my focus was health and alternative healing approaches. they did have an informal sports center back then and i did some running with michael murphy while he was writing his novel "jacob atabet", which first delineates an ITP. Marianthi and i lived in parallel universes in those days and her stories are probably as interesting and more believable than mine. "forrest gump's adventures in conciousness"....... michaelD has done a fine job of providing a contextually broad integral site with the links here, and learning the history of esalen/mike murphy and aurobindo broadens things further. walt anderson's "upstart spring" is a good esalen history, and jeff kripal's "esalen:america and the religion of no religion" comes out in april. integral naked members who have been there lately are essence and ego,and mcenter, who may be there now. in his '77 book "jacob atabet" murphy laments that with all the books, seminars and workshops, "its amazing how few have a practice". you don't need to go to esalen to have a practice. are you listening henry? HAPPY BIRTHDAY Jimtzu!     

[Nickeson]

Good God, my friend, I think you have set a personal best for the most henry words in a single space. Thank you for them all!

It could be that writing books about how to have a practice on one hand and reading books about how to practice a practice on the other hand are more of a practice than actually?.well, you know?practicing.

Living well (whatever that means to whomever) is probably the best practice of all even if one has no need for revenge.

Thanks again.
SN

[jimtzu]

Good God, my friend, I think you have set a personal best for the most henry words in a single space. Thank you for them all!

it happens!  (trying to give henry a run for his money on the less is more approach to posting, but i've already blown that with my parenthetical explanation, so i wouldn't mind hearing more of your experiences in eselan)

and steven... isn't living well what you do after you're done practicing? 

[marianthi]

Now you got me going Henry: what parallel universes were we treading aside from those of Shaktipat?

Hmmm? 

Marianthi.

[henry]

marianthi, i think the community of alternative health practitioners shared a similar culture in those days. i think i remember you were studying postural integration, while i was pursuing similar modalities in california and the christos school of natural healing in taos,near the lama foundation. i never was a model, but possibly i could still be discovered. ...henry

[henry]

if i get a contract my nom de guerre will be enrique

[marianthi]

Henry,

I never heard of the Christos School that you mention.  What was their favourite healing technique?

As for the alternative healers culture of the 70?s, what are you referring to, Enrique?:  soaking shoulder-deep in outdoor Jacuzzis expounding on believable and unbelievable cures, the virtues or vices of Gurus and Lamas, the longest fast we ever took, freak-out regressions, pressure points on the body so lethal one should never reveal them, Obi-one-Kenobi...or what?

My own training sent me for a while to the P.I. Institute in San Francisco,  the Wilhelm Reigh Institute in Mexico City, the Gerda Boyesen Institute in London, Sufi work in the Blue Ridge Mountains, Gurudev Siddha Peeth in Ganeshpuri.  I also got to visit out of curiosity Findhorn.  Eileen Caddy was not there, only 5 people in a bad mood who eventually let me sit in an empty, round-walled meditation hall.  The so-called fertile gardens of the place were a few struggling plants in November winds. 

Restless searching  was a big part of my?healers trip?.  What about you, my friend? 

 
Marianthi.

[henry]

you can search quantum touch, richard gordon's evolution of randolph stone's polarity. gentle, concious loving,educated.christos.i believe that with heartminders we'll be fine...enrique......(next day follow-up)...i suggested to tiki that her visit to findhorn be late spring or summer. the angel devas aren't as grumpy then....... no jacuzzis, but several natural hot springs and stories probably no one here besides you would believe...christos probably hasn't existed for 30 years. the main teacher was an herbalist, but we were all over the map. i'm guessing your blue ridge friends were the sufi healing order/himayat inayati. they are a couple hunded miles south of me in Marshall's neck of the woods.never got to ganeshpuri, but i have a picture of gurumayi in the meditation cave. she's a cutey....coming clean is exhausting...

[marianthi]

Hope you?re recovered Henry. 

I agree, life review can be exhausting even if it is not in the last minutes before expiring. My Sufi place was in the woods near a town of the name of a cigarette brand. Can?t recall it. The Sufi master was Adnan of the Nashquabandi order:  lots of belly dancing, fasting and drumming.

Quantum touch, indeed!

 
Marianthi.

[Liz]

Henry,

Findhorn is on my list of places I'd like to visit, but right now I think I've had my fill for a while. Another place on my list was Samye Ling, the Tibetan monastery. I've just spent the weekend there. I've been feeling a bit drawn towards Buddhism for a while and wanted to experience something other than the kadampa buddhists who just happen to be local........wanted a feel for what may be similar or different elsewhere.

The place is lovely, set in beautiful surroundings. Spent lots of time in the temple, prayers, meditation, teaching sessions. I knew by the end of the first full day there is no home for me here......it was a nice, peaceful, relaxing break, but there was nothing that really engaged me and a few things that pushed me away. I think the group was far too big for the kind of session it was supposed to be (there were about 70 people). By last night I decided home comforts were more appealing and left before the final day. I think having decided there was nothing for me to explore there, there seemed no point in hanging around another day.

I felt quite uncomfortable about the way they seemed to be vey encouraging of making a commitment. There was a refuge ceremony yesterday which a fair number of people who arrived on Fri with no understanding decided to participate in by Sunday. Maybe I'm just wary of making a commitment anywhere, but that did seem like a significant step, something you would want to think about (it was almost like a Christian baptism, formally setting out on a path).

Culrurally, the centre is very committed to saving and looking after treasures such as old manuscripts which came out of Tibet. I can understand why they would want to do that, but there was just for me a feeling the whole thing was less outward looking and world centric than the inclusivity they claim. I think it's maybe hard to be both a preserver of one tradition and a genuinely even handed supporter of others at the same time.

However, I had a nice relaxing weekend, lots of meditation, lots of sleep, some nice country walks........anything but a wasted weekend

Liz

[henry]

hi liz...i'm in no position to recommend findhorn having been there for a grand total of five hours on a visitor's wednesday in 1979. but going there in good warmer weather when there is lots of activity sounds interesting  if you are relatively close. they have a way for you to be there for a day or two for 14 pounds a day, but you have to make your own lodging arrangements at a bed and breakfast or the caravan park. good train service to forres. they have an informative web site, and "resource persons" you can contact in edinburgh or aberdeen. if you don't like findhorn the institution, you can always wander into the ancient village of findhorn, where complaints are welcome  ..henry

[marianthi]

there was just for me a feeling the whole thing was less outward looking and world centric than the inclusivity they claim. I think it's maybe hard to be both a preserver of one tradition and a genuinely even handed supporter of others at the same time.
Liz

As to your feeling above,Liz,I?ve shared something alike with the Yoga tradition.  I embraced it because of gems of wisdom, and valuable practices and experiences but in that bundle I was pricked by thorns of archaic attitudes (particularly by the huge prejudices when it came to gender and social class) and teaching molds geared to mind-sets of Indian culture with all it?s complexities and varieties. 

As I guess we all are, I now do selective weeding every time I pick up ANY phylosophical bundles - but I often wonder if enough is not enough. A stoll by a seashore seems plenty at times.

Great to see you here. 

 

[henry]

here is a report on joe pearce's new book. the subtitle is "a return to the intelligence of the heart" and is a re-capitulation of his lifes work. also it is an owners manual for heartminders. i've been a reader for 30+ years, beginning with "the crack in the cosmic egg". i was signed up for a weekend at esalen with him, but he mysteriously cancelled. Marianthi knows him possibly through a siddha yoga connection. i detected irony in her voice when she spoke of joe lecturing women about pregnancy....joe's solution to the horrors we are witness to currently is a healing connection between the heart, mind and prefrontal cortex which culture,child rearing, education have split. he cites william blake, rudolph steiner, muktananda, gurumayi, the heartmath research, robert sardello and pre- st. paul jesus as lighting the way forward. a biological return to sophia, the sacred feminine. ...henry

[Michael]

Sounds great Henry!  Thanks for the update.

[henry]

no idea what i was in for jumping on my bicycle in march 1974 headed for esalen on the coastal highway. those of you that have driven that stretch of road from carmel can imagine what it is like on a bike on a glorious pacific day. going down the hill, "esalen institute, reservations only" i experienced  the "toto, we're not in kansas anymore" familiar to arriving seminarians. checked in and collapsed,elated on the the lawn next to the pool where the '69 big sur pop festival was held. there were two naked golden nordic aliens with their blonde children at the pool. the other person on the lawn picked up his guitar and played "country roads (take me home)". i never got over it  ..henry