A Mission for Life - Men and Women

Men's “Work” – a mission greater than ourselves                                           By Craig Lane

Men have protected tribes, families and societies for thousands of years.  Women too of course.  But since men tend to embody the Sacred Masculine more than most women, this speaks to the inner masculine, not just men.  But a shadow of the masculine has been running the world for far too long in my opinion.  The Sacred Masculine misdirected can be destructive, generate unnecessary pain and suffering, does not listen to the “correct voice” inside, and not collaborate through community and culture.

What is a mission?

Something greater than ourselves.  Some goal or large project we may not see the finish of, but we begin, plan, and nurture this mission throughout our lifetimes.  This is what used to be educated into young men before they were called “men.”  They had to prove they could pass through these portals of temptation, restriction of all things not necessary to life, and pass the tests of the elder men.

Not just for men, but for women?

My last girlfriend loved the idea of all the things men do in private sacred circle, and found none of the women's circles she attended or researched used these more confrontational models.  And for good reason.  The Sacred Feminine gives birth, creates, takes in the waste of the world and digests it, is dark, still, and Mysterious.  So this part is not meant to go out and overcome challenge.  But women can develop their sacred Masculine.

How have we been led to follow the laid out path?

There is evidence that our education is a form of programming.  Programming that we take on and limits us.  If you look around at the media, and its portrayal of the worst of humanity’s traits,  like greed, lust, violence, war, getting whatever you want at other’s cost, etc….

What I am asking is to look more deeply, and ask “what is my authentic self, my authentic voice say?”

How can we discover if it might be best to find another way?

I ask ALL my clients this question, “How do you feel when you wake up in the morning?  What is the first thing you notice upon waking?”  If we cannot say we wake happy, ready to face the day and its challenges, and cannot say, "I would live this life even if there was no payment for my service to society," then we might want to look at the make we want to leave on this place called Earth.

Inner alchemy shows us, for thousands of years, a path laid out by elders and teachers of those wishing to evolve consciously.  These steps we all seem to go through, though the timing and sequence varies – separation, burning out the crap, seeing what must be let go of, bringing it back together, fermenting it to new life, distilling out the by-products of this process, squeezing the sponge, then letting go and “letting God.”  Not only that, but spiritual teachers (often referred to as gurus in the East) almost all point to a need for a death of sorts, a death I call the stripping away of identity with form, with the outer world of illusion.  The movie of life is not real in a sense.  Once we see through it, then we can more effectively live in it!

What does it mean to have a mission?

It means we are operating in a larger field of awareness.  We have resources at our disposal of the entire universe when we let go, and surrender.  My teacher once said, “Reality is a hunter, looking for a moment of vulnerability.”  When we allow ourselves to become open and in a “container” of a mission and its support, then we must also be open to changes in the mission as reality unfolds around it.  These changes will be more evident if we operate in a larger field of awareness.  And The Hunter can have access to us.

What gets in the way?

The societal powers of "shoulds," unconsciousness, and the matrix of illusion that keeps us from seeing the true world we abide in.  See for yourself.  Enter through the doors the wise ones point to.  Do you have the courage to find out?

What does alignment with our goals feel like?

There are words spoken in ancient languages that better speak to this.  But I will say, it feels satisfying, edgy, at times a lovely neutrality, and a nakedness seems to come.  Can I be stripped naked and seen for what I am?  Symbolic of course, though I love nudity also!

How can one get support and be supported?

Come to The Masculine Mission support group.  This is dedicated to helping men (women can also join) find their mission, or a small mission, that one step of, or a larger piece of, can be completed within a year.  Or sit in groups like sat sang, go to yoga and meditation, eat healthier, be more honest and real with yourself is primary though.

You can contact me about this at 

Elemental Poems - Metal, The Season of Autumn

Metal – Not Much To Say, Just This

Letting go

Taking in

Letting go

Opening, closing, opening, closing

How to refine crystal?

What discerns gold from brass?

Difficult when stuck in the mud

Of sleepiness.

Original sin, only a game.

Toxic sewers, full to the brim.

Attachments glued on self.

Desires choking colons,

Breathing shallow, like immature minds.

Not noticing the true Father,

Turned away from grace.

Is metal more dense than you?

Is there a common link?

What becomes metals?

What does metal become?

It finally makes Itself known

As the one watching,

And the One

Living the question,

“What Am I?”

Juicing With Your Mouth

This story begins with a simple vegetable called celery.  The point to make is that juice is the easiest way to extract energy and nutrients from food.  You could say this is my opinion, but the evidence is just too much for me to say otherwise.  AND there is a downside to too much fresh raw juice.

I will digress slightly.

I had always had a sensitive digestive system, and saw more and more as I aged that I also was sensitive to people’s “energies.”  On the other hand, I also had/have a very scientific, “show me the proof” kinda mind.  My woo woo Energy Magician, and my Science mind spent much of my life in conflict.  Until one day early in my long college career, I saw “flames of green” shooting out of a teacher’s body while lecturing for a very large class.  You know, the ones in the lecture halls with at least 100 people?  I was far near the back of the class, smug in my position of observation of everyone I chose.  But this!  I tried to re-focus my eyes, and it did disappear.  Thank God!  That was weird, my mind said.  But then I got drowsy, (I had narcolepsy real bad due to severe digestive issues from very poor diet – could not extract much energy from my food), and the “aura” re-appeared.  This was when I knew I had integration work to do, to bring forth my rational, and intuitive parts.

Fast-forward…

Years of study in health led me to see I needed nerve nourishing foods.  Of which two common ones are lettuce and celery.  My quandary was this:  I had read a book by Bernard Jensen stating celery’s value for nerve nourishing nutrients, yet the fiber could be very irritating to a sensitive and leaky gut.  It almost always felt awful inside my tummy.  But how to get at what I needed without spending the time and the money to juice it?

Revelation one day!

I knew I had to overcome the social aspect of this, but I went forward.  I decided to simply chew up the celery, swallow the juice, then spit out the fiber.  Hmmm, where to put it?  As I chewed up every last morsel, and swallowed the liquid, pondering each and every time, I could bring plastic baggies, bowls, even old paper bags, on my bike simply spit it into the gutter or in  the bushes.  Free compost was my rationalization!

To end this short piece, keep in mind that if you do not have a juicer, and cannot afford one, then simply take whatever food you wish to juice, chew well, swallow, chew slowly, swallow some more, then spit out the fiber when satisfied!  This will save prep time, cleaning time, money, and stress.

Anything works well.  Try carrots, celery, kale, cabbage, fruits, anything at all when your tummy is upset or if you have sensitive digestion, as this is going to keep getting worse.  The IBS family of gut issues has gotten seemingly 300 times worse in the last twenty years.  I get more digestive complaints than almost any other.  AND we MUST treat and care for digestion, as this is the backbone of our health.

Remember this statement, “What we do not digest, digests us.”

We are mostly microbes, and they must eat and poop also.  Ponder this and seek out more of my articles for more information about this.

Truly,

Craig Lane

www.healthalkemy.com

Joy Upgrade

This is from Scott Schwenk - I am merely passing this on...
his website - http://trustthebreath.com/the_work.html

Joy Upgrade:  GIVING.  As I give with the Awareness that the real gift in my giving is me opening and being an embodiment of fullness, of Wholeness, of HAVING and pointing this awareness on you, or the other that I'm am giving some form of outer giving to (through time, resources, Presence, acknowledgment and appreciation, physical gifts).....as I give in this way, I become more and more conscious that my Giving uplifts me most of all....LIFTS **my** awareness and attention to Abundance.  My giving to you ***consciously*** IS a gift to me, is a gift to all of us.  The more of US that give in this way, the more WE live in a world of our choosing, a world where Heaven really is here, now.  Why not?  Why not have Heaven here.....now?  Why give any attention at all to thoughts to the contrary, thoughts of 'oh come on, that's just wishful thinking'  or  thoughts of   'gosh who does he think he is?'.

 You see, just as "conscious" giving uplifts you as the giver, withholding in any way contracts you as the withholder.

 You are the creator of how this life experience is going to go.

 Are you willing to be a Living Fountain of JOY in this world, and not necessary know how?  Yet willing keep attuning and reattuning Attention to this INtention?

 Why not?  Why not reach for this level of excellence?  Why not reach for this level of JOY?  Why not reach for this level of FREEDOM and LOVE that already is, that has no cause, that IS what you and I are here and now without the noise and static we've been habitually accustomed to attuning to, as if it were the real.   Why not reach, and why not now?  And now again....and now and now.......

 I love you.  I don't have to know your personally history to love you.  I don't have to know your accomplishments to love you.  I don't have to even be spending physical time with you to love you.  My love for you is because I love me.  The more I love me, the more the sense of you being at all a separate presence from me dissolves.  This is not mere rhetoric.  This is how it actively and already is.  The more Attention that's put on it, the more YOU experience it.

 Why not?  And why not NOW?

 I love you, pass it on.....  :-)


(Thank you Scott!)  Craig 2/8/12

Comfrey - Outlaw or Honest Healer?

Comfrey leaves in their glory

Comfrey – Making Sense of a Regenerative Plant

I first discovered this plant 15-20 years ago.  A teacher of mine spoke of how the establishment (the FDA) had given warnings against it.  Yet he said that in all his years, no one had ever had a bad outcome of use with the plant, even fed internally long-term.  Nor had his teacher, nor his, and on back for generations.  Thousands of people had used it, and it was a well-kept secret.  It speeds healing of any and all conditions, builds tissue, and this report says a lot, taken from The Energetics of Western Herbs p.463 (by Peter Holmes), “The historical use of this plant is interesting in that it demonstrates the superior skill of Native American healers in their use of plants…These tribes (that used the plant) effectively made redundant the primitive septic surgery and amputation performed by Western doctors (as seen in Dances with Wolves) thereby saving countless limbs and lives that would otherwise have been lost.”

I was obviously intrigued, yet did not use the plant much for another ten years, just observing it, watching it grow, and collecting more information about it.  I harvested one tiny piece of the root, big as one word on this page, and replanted it.  I saw it regenerate into an entire plant over 2-4 feet tall in a few months once put back into the soil.  I tried tasting it and noticed it was both sweet, slimy, bland, slightly astringent, and crunchy.  The leaves tasted more like wheat grass, with a slimy quality.

After a lifetime of struggling with various forms of what may be called Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS), hay fever, allergies, excessive colds and flus, I began to look into using this plant internally.  I had already seen its value on a friend’s knee injury.  I used it on my thumb, of which I cut off the end from the nail chopping lettuce years before.  The application of comfrey paste, seaweed, and honey regenerated the entire tissue back!

I knew I could not use the plant internally until whatever pathogenic microbes, whatever latent infections, and whatever abnormal growth in my body was under control.  In almost all Old-World healing traditions, there is a saying, “Do not feed the illness with a tonic.”  So, as I began using the plant more, taking it in the form of a fiber blend, or in tincture, I took breaks of 1-2 weeks for every 4-6 weeks using it, while doing gut cleansing, liver clearing, colonics, and regular massage.

Within a few months, maybe even weeks, I noticed I could tolerate foods that used to cause horrible diarrhea, common things like beets, coconut, grapefruits, lentils, coffee, and so much  more.  I also began noticing my bowels firming up more consistently than ever before in my life.  After six years of internal use, with breaks, I can say my weight, my guts, my life, everything about me is much better and healthier.  During the first few years of this process, my first chance at using it on a very sick client came.

This man had been diagnosed with Ulcerative Colitis.  It is severe degeneration of the gut lining, ulcers raw and irritated by most common fibrous foods.  He had blood in his bowel movements.  He was a wreck, given little hope in mainstream medicine.  This man was given comfrey for 6-8 months, on and off, with other supplements, foods, and herbs.  He began to feel so good, that he overate pizza and beer one night, two things I said were no-no’s, and ended up in the hospital, almost dying.  But we brought him food, got him home, and I can honestly say if he sticks with his program, can consider himself cured.

The plant has so many healing properties, I will only list a few here.  For those who want more information, see the sources at the end of this essay, or contact me through my website, www.healthalkemy.com.  

Comfrey’s well known virtues are: heals ulcers internally and externally, stops bleeding both externally and internally, speeds bone and all tissue healing (sometime twice as fast as without it), specific for blood in the urine or lungs, helps dissolve and expel mucus, lowers fever, soothes dry and raw throat, relieves cough, and helps asthma any lung condition.  But what I use it mostly for is healing of the stomach, small and large intestinal lining.  If someone said I could only grow one herb, comfrey would be the one.

The downside of comfrey is that it is sticky, and needs other herbs to “push it along.”  I often combine cinnamon, ginger, ginkgo, or other chi moving herb.

I cannot state the value of this plant enough.  Safe and cautious use would be externally for any injury, open lesion, bleeding, or skin ulcer.  Internally, the tincture can be used in doses of ½ to 1tsp 2-3 times per day for 2 weeks, then a week off, then 2 weeks on and 1 week off cycle.  The fresh leaf tea can use ½ to 1 oz chopped fine with 2 cups water poured over it, steep 10 minutes then strain and squeeze.  The chopped root use 1/2 ounce simmered in 2 cups water for 20 minutes, then strain.  Add cinnamon, ginger, or even mint to it to move it along.

Note – this plant has been on the FDA’s list of “toxic” plants for many years.  Even though the studies were done on rats, and taken in amounts that would correspond to eating ungodly and unrealistic amounts for humans.  All things said here are based on my personal experience, those of my teachers, and a book written by an MD in 1936, soon forgotten in his era.

Since the FDA could prosecute anyone using this plant, all information herein is to be taken as “external use only.”   Keep the faith, truths are emerging in health, and plants like these will soon assume their place in the healing of many many people.

Sources:

1)Energetics of Western Herbs, Peter Holmes

2)Medical Herbalism, David Hoffman

3)Back to Eden – Jethro Kloss

4)East West Herb Course, Micheal Tierra

5)NARRATIVE OF AN INVESTIGATION CONCERNING AN ANCIENT MEDICINAL REMEDYAND ITS MODERN UTILITIES, The Symphytum officinale and its Contained Allantoin – by CHARLES J. MACALISTER, M.D.• F.R.C.P Hem. C-U"" P1apieiDn to tM Li~l ROfIGl Southern HoapiIiJI, to 1M ROfIGl Li"npool ChildrfM', HoapiIiJl mad10 1M Ifoor"C"". HospitGl, BourloR-or&.o...Wat...

From seleneriverpress.com

+++For an in-depth look at the toxic compounds found in comfrey and many other plants, see Medical Herbalism by David Hoffman, pages 202-204

+++For one study examining rats fed comfrey, go to this link - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1683566/?tool=pmcentrez

The flower of comfrey - makes yummy tempura!

Smart Meters

The beauty of Yosemite contrasted by the closing in of our freedoms to choose

There are some disturbing things to navigate these days.  Our government seems to have been bought out by corporate and interests of greed.  Being a health practitioner, it feels frustrating to constantly be educating people about the rigid ideology and ignorance of legislators and bureaucrats making health recommends.  Example is the Food Pyramid, vaccinations, and now Smart Meters are ok!

Here are some links to help those interested get more information:
The first one is the main site I like;
http://www.smartmeterdangers.org/
this next one is more specific;
http://www.scribd.com/doc/52614951/Reasons-to-Say-No-to-Smart-Meters
This is a video and alot of them on this channel;
http://www.youtube.com/user/eon3#g/c/CBE24C6E4EF7DA11

Perceptions and Health

Perspective and Perception

Many ways to perceive

The world as we see it is not what we think it is. We have been taught to see a certain way, often limiting our ability to see what is actually happening. We can call this “conditioning,” or “programming.”

Changing the way we think…

…Means changing the way we create our lives…

Our bodies produce feelings and emotions based on what we think and how we think. Then our thoughts often reflect the emotional state or feeling, resulting in a constant dance between reactions. For example, we see a cat catching a bird and think, “how horrible.” Then our body produces a feeling we label as “horrible.” We may feel repulsed or angry, but is this really horrible? Who are we to judge what life is doing?

By judging ourselves and others and life, we create unnecessary tension within ourselves. By looking at the negatives in our lives, like how sick we may feel or how little money we have, we set up a feedback loop of suffering.

We are always creating. We cannot not create. The old healing traditions point to this, and I have seen through my practice that this is so. We create by how we think, what we say, how we say it, and through our actions. With thinking, we also create an emotional reaction, which creates more thoughts, as our mind perceives the feeling of the emotion. It can be a viscous cycle. (this can be either a blissful cycle or a viscous cycle depending on where our attention is fixated).

Try this:

Decide to choose to feel a little better by focusing your attention on the things that are working in your health.

Use this checklist as a guide if need be.

Sleep – find something to look forward to as you wake up. Focus on really feeling how good it will feel to have what you have looked forward to. Something that feels opening, expanding and bright. And as the duller, or more unpleasant sensations arise, the ones we tend to push away, they get to be seen from a new perspective. We start to find ourselves sleeping more soundly, and waking more satisfied. But start with achievable, yet challenging goals. I will often see myself feeling open, enthusiastic, and curious about a person I have a meeting with, or a client. After years of practicing this, I can honestly say that my interactions with others is much more satisfying. Life begins to conspire with us as we allow ourselves to be pulled into it. I like to find and move with a feeling of going downstream. Try it out.

Another effective method is a body scan.

Feel each part of your body, do not try and change anything, just let it be. Send love to each body part in support for how it feels. I like to feel the weight of my body on the floor, or on the chair, and breathe in love and support, and exhale tension. See each part full of life and energy.

Start with your toes on the left foot, go to the foot, then the ankle, then the lower leg, then knee, then upper leg, then do the right leg and foot. Now do the left glut, right glut, pelvis, sex organs, low back, mid-back, upper back, then lower belly, upper belly, diaphragm, chest, sternum. Now do the left arm, starting with each finger, then hand, then wrist, then forearm, then elbow, then upper arm. Now the right arm. Now do the neck and throat, back of head, face with each sensory organ, like mouth, nose, ears, eyes, and forehead. Finish with the scalp.

Movement/exercise/creative expression – try shaking out any tension, shake for the fun of it, see the tension going out of yourself!

Try out this link, do one of these exercises

http://healthalkemy.com/health-news/esoteric-health-techniques/

Scroll down to the bottom and choose Energization, 5 Tibetans, or The Peaceful Warrior Workout

A Shining Example of how perception affects us is just below. (this was taken from an email with no credits given in that email)

Carrot, an egg, and a cup of coffee...

You will never look at a cup of coffee the same way again. A young woman went to her mother and told her about her life and how things were so hard for her. She did not know how she was going to make it and wanted to give up She was tired of fighting and struggling. It seemed as one problem was solved, a new one arose.

Her mother took her to the kitchen. She filled three pots with water and placed each on a high fire Soon the pots came to boil. In the first she placed carrots, in the second she placed eggs, and in the last she placed ground coffee beans. She let them sit and boil; without saying a word. In about twenty minutes she turned off the burners. She fished the carrots out and placed them in a bowl. She pulled the eggs out and placed them in a bowl.

Then she ladled the coffee out and placed it in a bowl. Turning to her daughter, she asked, "Tell me what you see." "Carrots, eggs, and coffee," she replied. Her mother brought her closer and asked her to feel the carrots. She did and noted that they were soft. The mother then asked the daughter to take an egg and break it. After pulling off the shell, she observed the hard-boiled egg.

Finally, the mother asked the daughter to sip the coffee. The daughter smiled as she tasted its rich aroma The daughter then asked, "What does it mean, mother?"

Her mother explained that each of these objects had faced the same adversity: boiling water. Each reacted differently. The carrot went in strong, hard, and unrelenting. However, after being subjected to the boiling water, it softened and became weak. The egg had been fragile. Its thin outer shell had protected its liquid interior, but after sitting through the boiling water, its inside became hardened. The ground coffee beans were unique, however. After they were in the boiling water, they had changed the water.

"Which are you?" she asked her daughter. "When adversity knocks on your door, how do you respond? Are you a carrot, an egg or a coffee bean?

Think of this: Which am I? Am I the carrot that seems strong, but with pain and adversity do I wilt and become soft and lose my strength? Am I the egg that starts with a malleable heart, but changes with the heat? Did I have a fluid spirit, but after a death, a breakup, a financial hardship or some other trial, have I become hardened and stiff? Does my shell look the same, but on the inside am I bitter and tough with a stiff spirit and hardened heart? Or am I like the coffee bean? The bean actually changes the hot water, the very circumstance that brings the pain. When the water gets hot, it releases the fragrance and flavor. If you are like the bean, when things are at their worst, you get better and change the situation around you.

When the hour is the darkest and trials are their greatest, do you elevate yourself to another level? How do you handle adversity? Are you a carrot, an egg or a coffee bean? How is your perspective? Does it feel good inside?