Reference: The Story of Stuff www.storyofstuff.com
Category: Culture
-
So Many Responsibilities
How many of us are swept away by what I have come to call an “active laziness”? Naturally there are different species of laziness: Eastern and Western. The Eastern style consists of hanging out all day in the sun, doing nothing, avoiding any kind of work or useful activity, drinking cups of tea and gossiping with friends.
Western laziness is quite different. It consists of cramming our lives with compulsive activity, so that there is no time left to confront the real issues.
If we look into our lives, we will see clearly how many unimportant tasks, so-called “responsibilities” accumulate to fill them up. One master compares them to “housekeeping in a dream.” We tell ourselves we want to spend time on the important things of life, but there never is any time.
Helpless, we watch our days fill up with telephone calls and petty projects, with so many responsibilities – or should we call them “irresponsibilities”?
Sogyal Rinpoche
Reference: http://www.rigpaus.org/Glimpse/Glimpse.php
-
Gustave Courbet
Gustave Courbet wikipedia.org
-
Watsu – Water Shiatsu
Origins of Watsu
Watsu® (Water Shiatsu) began in 1980 in the warm pool at Harbin Hot Springs when Harold Dull started floating people while applying the stretches and principles of the Zen Shiatsu he had studied in Japan. In the Orient, stretching as a way to open channels through which our Chi energy flows is even older than acupuncture. Stretching strengthens muscle and increases flexibility. Warm water, which many associate with the body’s deepest states of waking relaxation, is the ideal medium. The support of water takes weight off the vertebrae and allows the spine to be moved in ways impossible on land. Gentle, gradual twists and pulls relieve the pressure a rigid spine places on nerves and helps undo any dysfunctioning this pressure can cause to the organs serviced by those nerves. The Watsu receiver experiences greater flexibility and freedom. During Watsu a range of emotions can come up and be released into the process of continuous flow. This reprograms receivers to face life out of the water with greater equanimity and flexibility.
Another principle of Zen Shiatsu, that of connecting with the breath, takes on a new dimension in Watsu. On land, the breathing is coordinated with leaning into points. In water, our most basic move is the Water Breath Dance, in which we float someone in our arms and let them sink a little as they breathe out and let the water lift us as we both breathe in. Repeated over and over at the beginning of a Watsu, this creates a connection that can be carried into all the stretches and moves. This Water Breath Dance, and its stillness, is returned to throughout the session.
Experiencing both giving and receiving this most nurturing form of bodywork can help heal whatever wounds of separation we carry and renew in us our sense of connection and oneness with others. For this reason Watsu is Rebonding Therapy. Watsu is used around the world by professional bodyworkers, physical therapists, psychologists, as well as the general public.
Watsu, and the way it is taught, has evolved over the years. In the beginning the focus was primarily on stretching. With the Waterbreath Dance and the greater connection of moves to the breath, a more meditative stillness entered in. The use of flotation devices on legs that would otherwise sink has widened the possibilities and the ease of a Watsu.
Once a practitioner has reached the level of presence and connection that the carefully evolved Watsu Forms instill, they are taught and encouraged to explore the creative potential in Watsu Free Flow.
Reference: www.watsu.com
-
Der blinde Knabe
An allen Türen blieb der blinde Knabe,
auf den der Mutter bleiche Schönheit schien,
und sang das Lied, das ihm sein Leid verliehn:
“Oh hab mich lieb, weil ich den Himmel habe.”
Und alle weinten über ihn.An allen Türen blieb der blinde Knabe.
Die Mutter aber zog ihn leise mit;
weil sie die andern alle weinen schaute.
Er aber, der nicht wußte, wie sie litt,
und nur noch tiefer seinem Dunkel traute,
sang: “Alles Leben ist in meiner Laute.”Die Mutter aber zog ihn leise mit.
So trug er seine Lieder durch das Land.
Und als ein Greis ihn fragte, was sie deuten,
da schwieg er, und auf seiner Stirne stand:
Es sind die Funken, die die Stürme streuten,
doch einmal werd ich breit sein wie ein Brand.So trug er seine Lieder durch das Land.
Und allen Kindern kam ein Traurigsein.
Sie mußten immer an den Blinden denken
und wollten etwas seiner Armut weihn;
er nahm sie lächelnd an den Handgelenken
und sang: “Ich selbst bin kommen euch beschenken.”Und allen Kindern kam ein Traurigsein.
Und alle Mädchen wurden blaß und bang.
Und waren wie die Mutter dieses Knaben,
der immer noch in ihren Nächten sang.
Und fürchteten: wir werden Kinder haben, –
und alle Mütter waren krank..Da wurden ihre Wünsche wie ein Wort
und flatterten wie Schwalben um die Eine,
die mit dem Blinden zog von Ort zu Ort:
“Maria, du Reine,
sieh, wie ich weine.
Und es ist seine
Schuld. In die Haine
führ ihn fort!”Bei allen Bäumen blieb der blinde Knabe,
auf den der Mutter müde Schönheit schien,
und sang das Lied, das ihm sein Leid verliehn:
“Oh hab mich lieb, weil ich den Himmel habe -”
Und alle blühten über ihm.Links:
Rainer Marie Rilke wikipedia.org -
Play Ball
Other play ball links:
Kim Strother’s Swiss Ball Workout youtube.comAny suggestions?
-
Art of Zhang Huan
Zhang Huan wikipedia.org
Links: zhanghuan.com
-
I the consumer
George Carlin talks about crazy fat people
-
Zeitgeist Addendum – The Revolution has begun
Zeitgeist: Addendum wikipedia.org
Background:
Zeitgeist zeitgeistmovie.com
Zeitgeist, the Movie wikipedia.org -
Justice My Foot and Flirting Scholar
周星馳 Stephen Chow is a wonderful proponent of intelligent self ironic madhouse Chinese cinema humor.
Links: Stephen Chow wikipedia.org
-
last.fm – super cool social music
Last.fm has existed for some time on the Internet as an Internet radio station with lots of cool radio stations for any imaginal taste, but now something super cool as happened to Last.fm. Last.fm as trancended into something entirely new – a hassle free super cool social music player. Last.fm scrubbles your favorite music from your iTunes or MP3 player (Scrobbling a song means that when you listen to it, the name of the song is sent to Last.fm and added to your music profile), learns about your music preferences from you, so you can share and receive preferences from others as you wish. Last.fm off curse integrates with your iPod and iPhone. And Last.fm integrates Firefox through the fire plugin. The design is simple, strict and slick in red, white and black – like the designers abc – exactly the way I like it.
Check it out.. its super cool – and companies like Apple should learn from, integrate or even buy Last.fm
Links:
Last.fm
Fire.fm 1.1.3 Firefox plugin -
The Road Not Taken
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
I’m sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden back.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.Robert Frost
-
Awakening The Soul
Awakening The Soul neigong.com
You must be logged in to post a comment.