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Jipala

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Misfits and Fringe Dwellers Unite! The disease of normalcy has corrupted our internal structures of self, it has eaten away at our foundations and created a fever pitch of fear driven insanity. It all has gone so very wrong and we are now so far away from an even tempered way of living that we are hard pressed to find a balanced environment to surround ourselves in. Some people find small communities that comfort them and some isolate themselves, it is all traveling against the current. What would going upstream mean and changing the way the water flows? It would take a large mass of people sticking together and standing firm. How can we unite the fringe dwellers and the misfits of the world? The ones that always felt they were different that they were called by the whispers of their heart to do more and go further. The mantra,…

The goal of human existence is to be happy. A ragged declaration, the ultimate statement that defines our society. We have been indoctrinated, little rats to follow the siren call of the pied piper, you must obey. We will buy the big screen T.V, cover our blemishes with makeup, starve ourselves thin and if we tout the line, we will be happy. Yes sir, Yes ma’am I will do what you say, I will bend myself backwards for you. It doesn’t work. Well then I will fake it and pretend it is working and still keep trying to make myself thinner, smarter and buy even nicer things. I will tell my neighbors it is working so that by them coveting my happiness, it will make it more real for me.I will play this game as long as I can. It is still does not work. What am I doing wrong?…

It seems just recently that I have crossed over some invisible bridge of aging. No one really tells you that it is coming or when you will feel it, then one day it just happens. I look around and realize that the cafe is filled with 20 year olds planning their eco-fermenting businesses. The new veterinarian and orthodontist are about 28 years old. A whole new generation of professionals are coming up and the bulk of the baby boomers are retiring. I am not really old but all of sudden it feels that I am not young anymore. In one way this feels like a relief. Some of the competitive challenges of youth are fading. No longer do I feel not pretty enough or not smart enough. I have a enough life experience to not really pay attention to those whimsical thoughts. I know that there are good and bad…

Photograph credit: Katherine Nagy Sita Ram, Sita Ram, Sita Ram, Jaya Sita Ram सीता राम सीता राम सीता राम जय सीता राम Sita is the incarnation of Lakshmi, Goddess of abundance. She is the embodiment of love and virtue. Her husband Ram, is the incarnation of Vishnu, Lord of the universe. He was a living vessel of effused truth, compassion and bravery. Together they symbolize the union of the feminine and the masculine energies, the powerful partnership of intuition and action. Mantras are prayers, patterns of letters, words, sounds and breath, that consecrate intention into form. By chanting the songs repetitively, we evoke the sacred energies. We can use this tool to unify the separate sides of the self and to heal the violent divisions in our culture. The intertwined energies of Sita and Ram, balance the right and left sides of the human brain and regulate the parasympathetic and…

In the haze of sleep, swimming in the place between being awake and in a dream, a thought about healing hijacks my mind. In order to heal, we have to crack open. The vessel of self has to split and then the light can get in, begin the work of restoring harmony. The space that is created, the energy that comes flooding through to guide us towards what will support us in the process of recovery. This self-discovery is not only cyclical within linear time but it is also happening on multiple levels. I have found that if it can occur in a different part of the self rather then the mind it will be more effective. If it happens energetically or physically there is more movement. If it is just in the mind or psychologically then it will get stuck in the cogs of mental process and only get…

Photograph credit: Jason Stern A month ago I sub-letted my small office to a colleague. I have worked alone for a long time and wanted to change up the energy around here, and have another acupuncturist to talk shop with. I thought if I had a really good acupuncturist working in the office next to me, I would work a bit harder in my own room. It has certainly done exactly that, in ways that I could not have predicted. He easily fit right in and filled up his one day a week with clients. Has great energy and is bringing lots of new people through the office doors. What I did not count on was that in the few minutes conversations that we get to have tucked in between clients, I have had to see myself a little more honestly… My self-esteem gets challenged really easily. I am a…

I am no scholar of the Five elements or the Five spirits models of Chinese medicine. I have read about them and integrated them into my acupuncture practice. I remember when I was first trying to grasp Five element acupuncture, my teacher said that you have to recognize how the elements feel not just have an intellectual grasp on their qualities. I spent years after that sitting by fire and investigating how it felt or feeling the earth under my feet and noticing which senses it conjured up in me. I still practice these exercises. The longer that I work in this field, the more I understand that it is about seeing the truth, not just with my eyes, listening with my heart space and feeling deeply with my whole self. The healing process is about being alert, sensitive to subtle movements of energy, remaining grounded and being able to…

As we move through an era of great flux, we will find ourselves relying on an ancient energy for guidance. This relates to the healing and evolution of the human nervous system. Intuition is a tool that helps us connect with our origin and guide us to develop. Healing by way of reconnecting with the workings of our inner laboratory, and taking that energy out into the world. The intuitive energy is accessible to each individual. It is not a path, not a journey, it is a dynamic growth process. Points to consider: Emotions will be strong. There is chaos. Discipline is necessary. The dark is part of the transformation. The feelings in your heart space is a wise guide. There is abundant support. You may have to challenge yourself to believe in things that you do not believe in, the limitations of your intellectual mind might not serve you.…

The energy of mid-February brings our attention to the space in our upper chest, that houses the heart. Around the traditional time of Valentine’s day, a primal energy surfaces. Historically, many of the holidays that we celebrate were conceived within pagan traditions, and chosen specifically to mark seasonal shifts. The change that we experience around this time of year is that our attention is pulled upwards. The light is higher on the horizon and the days are longer. The sap starts to flow in the trees, representing the circulation in our bodies and the awakening from the Winter stillness. In human embryonic development, a space is created first where the heart will be formed. The undifferentiated cells come together as unit and begin to beat simultaneously all at once becoming an early structure of the the heart. The form undergoes many different stages of development until the final spiral organ…

Feminine and Masculine Consciousness, The Forgotten Connection Traveling along a haphazard path, a journey through books, articles, lectures, people’s opinions and personal experiences, a theme takes shape. The forgotten. Patterns and energies, deep inner knowing from many years ago, that has been buried, disembodied, manipulated. We know of its existence, we can still perceive a remnant of this energy but we can not concretely grasp it any longer. Our nervous systems still remembers but the front of our brains can not recall. When we try to recreate it intellectually we make a mockery of the original. The new version does not function correctly, rather it accentuates the modern fractured form. It is like we are missing something so obvious and we know it and we do not know what to do about it. The texts that explained the forgotten are lost or destroyed. The apprenticeship line that passed the material…