Personally...from the President

It's All Belief

I had yet another interesting email exchange with my younger brother the other day. He has a way of getting me up on my own soapbox, I think because he speaks in such broad generalities I can't help but wade in and make some distinctions.

In this case, he was talking about his extreme distrust of any method of medical treatment--from surgery to energy medicine. His main beef with it was when practitioners or product hawkers post "disclaimers" about the efficacy of their services or products. The fact they "disclaim" to him meant they had uncertainty themselves as to whether or not their products or services were even valid.

I pointed out that the whole disclaimer thing has been made necessary because of the litigious nature of mainstream medicine in cahoots with insurance companies and government agencies. It has little to do with whether or not a particular product or service works.

Undaunted, he retorted that most "new-agey", "woo-woo" products or techniques have little or no "real science" backing them up. He sees that as an admission that it's all snakeoil. Further, he says, "I believe 98.999999% of the time any naturopathic products that 'work' are based in pure belief, not actual physical effect."

Aside from the obvious naivete oozing from that statement, I had to respond to the "belief" part of his assertion:

Hate to break it to ya, but it's ALL BELIEF. Medications work because they are metaphoric symbols, and their curative power lies in that symbol. Just because it is a symbol does NOT minimize its effectiveness. In many instances, the "placebo effect" is just as effective, or more so, than the "remedy" itself. It's all about what we truly, deeply and intuitively believe is true about something.

In Taoist practices, for example, saliva is considered the "fountain of youth," and meditations involve embuing saliva with light from the imagination and then swallowing the light. There's actually mundane scientific research done on this that found that consciously swallowing saliva increases the growth hormone content of the saliva.

Beyond all that, it is our BELIEFS that determine our level of health, and ability to heal. There are so many examples of people doing only meditation and fasting healing themselves of "terminal" diseases.

Japanese scientist, Masura Emoto, did breakthrough research on the quantum properties of water, and found that the electrical makeup of water is influenced by human thought, and that when frozen, water that has been exposed to life-affirming and positive thoughts makes perfectly symmetrical crystals, and water exposed to negative thoughts has no symmetry when crystalized. Since our bodies are around 90% water, this research has some impact.

I use several supplements, and every time I take a supplement I create positive energies for it to work in when I swallow it. In that way, it helps to override any subconscious negativity about it "working", and allows the body to take full advantage of what the supplement could do for it.

Anywho, yeah, I agree with you.

In response, my brother admitted he had little belief in his ability to change or alter his own beliefs, and that it was a problem. He sees the world as Mr. Smith in The Matrix movie, "I hate this place...this zoo.. this prison, this reality, whatever you want to call it. It's the smell. I feel saturated by it. I can taste your stink. Every time I do I feel I have somehow been infected by it."

I pointed out that with a world view like that, it's no wonder he has trouble visioning a healing and supportive world for himself. The trick for him, I think, is to stop caring what "others" are thinking and saying. Being a big fan of the Abraham material, he pointed out what Abraham says, "Stop asking them what they think. Start paying attention to how you feel. Joy will be yours immediately, and everything else that you have ever thought would make you happy, will start flowing, seemingly effortlessly, into your experience."

My brother did go ahead and order a couple of products I recommended, but remains highly skeptical and grumpy. But, I have every intention of continuing my campaign...

In vibrant health,

Boyd Martin, President
Subtleenergysolutions.com

Personally...from the President

Finding Now

We humans struggle so with such earnest and angst about problems, issues, decisions, and judgments, when 99% of it is an illusion. And even that awareness can be equally upsetting.

I've found in my research that this 99% illusion is primarily composed of our inability to or lack of focus on the present moment. NOW is who you are. NOW is where heaven is. NOW is simultaneously the way and the destination. NOW is home.

Take a look at what you have been worrying about. Is any of it actually happening NOW, or is it really happening in the past or the future? One double-edged capability we all have is to put our thoughts and our feelings into the past or the future. If I was to ask you if you are in the present moment when you are crying, you'd say "yes" because that sorrow seems to be heppening right now. If you are in physical pain, you would most certainly claim to be in the present moment, if for no other reason than the pain itself seems to force you there. But this is, once again, an illusion.

Pain, suffering, grief, jealousy, anger, and the rest of what we refer to as "negative" emotions are really all connected together in a sort of past-experience matrix. The fear of pain, suffering, etc. is a future projection connected to that matrix. Pain, especially if it is excruciating, convinces us that the NOW is painful and forces us into a "future" where that pain is gone. And with chronic pain, depression sets in from living in a desperately desired future that never comes.

The big "SECRET" is that we are all hard-wired for joy, and that joy is only found in the present moment. I say "hard-wired" because joy is the basic and primal driving justification for existence. ALL of our attention, intention and our striving is for one purpose, and one purpose only: JOY. As famed mystic and intellectual, Alan Watts said, "Ecstasy, by one road or another, is inevitable." I would venture to say that the reason this is hard-wired is because THAT is WHO WE ARE, and this is reflected in our brain-body-mind.

The "road" Watts refers to is made of decision and intention. We decide to leave the past and the future, and intend to experience joy. The space between leaving the non-present, and entering into the now, is what we call "time". Have you noticed that when you are fully in joy, or even just really happy, time fades away. And yet, when we are in pain, time seems to go on forever.

One conundrum of human existence is that joy is the only thing that brings us into the present moment. It is always an option, and as such is just a decision away. It may be a chirping bird, the sweet scent of a rose wafting through the air, fluffy clouds in a deeply blue sky, infinite stars in a cloudless sky... or, the sense of breathing in the sweet, living air, the faint pulse of your heart in your knees, the wonderful healing heat of rubbing your hands together. Whatever it is, it can immediately bring you to now.

This is a skill. But there is an over-arching principle here that is important: What you pay attention to expands. The more joy you decide to perceive, the more joy becomes apparent, and will crowd out any pain and suffering. Continue to be with joy, and soon your life will reflect back to you more and more reasons for joy. And because joy is who and what you are, this can happen very quickly. Appreciation and gratitude are more skills to apply in getting to now.

The other "secret" that we all really know is what some call "faith", others call "contextualizing". We have "faith" that what we think is happening to us is positive and leading us to more joy, more healing, more happiness. Referring back to Watts' statement that "ecstacy is inevitable," we all get there, either in life or by death.

For example, one person is coping with an aching knee and "has faith" or contextualizes that he is "getting old" and the knee is breaking down. Alarmed, he visits his doctor who runs a couple of tests and although there was nothing conclusive, the knee may be arthritic, and subscribes various drugs for the pain and inflammation. Further alarmed, this person has now decided he has arthritis in his knee, and if he doesn't take the drugs the pain is worse. Soon, x-rays show that the cartlidge in the knee is shrinking, and soon the doctor recommends surgery.

On the other hand... a person with a pain in his knee has faith that it is a new energy pattern to improve or heal a weak knee. The person is excited about having a healed knee, and in a few days, the pain is gone, and the knee feels stronger.

In the first case, the person has stepped away from the present moment into futures of pain and suffering. In the second example, the person has chosen to step into the joy of the now and the healing of the knee.

In both cases, where the attention went is what expanded.

Allow the option of joy at every opportunity. Exercise that skill and it will grow stronger and more effective. Let the pain and worry of life be a cue to find the joy, and soon the Real Ecstatic You is revealed in all its wondrous healing glory.

In vibrant health,

Boyd Martin, President
Subtleenergysolutions.com

Personally... from the President

The Power of Gentle

My yoga teacher has been on a big campaign lately with his students to make changes slowly. Why? Because if you try to "change everything today", you're going to fail.

This is certainly NOT to say that change is a losing proposition (and the cynical among us may say "people never change"), but it is to say that change, when it does successfully occur, is due to persistent, small advances.

In the I Ching, the Chinese Book of Changes, there is a hexagram (symbol pictured right) that is relevant here. It is "The Gentle", and it arises from the concept of wind, and the energy of penetrating. The admonition within this hexagram is: "THE GENTLE: Success through what is small." And in the discussion, Wilhelm says, "Penetration produces gradual and inconspicuous effects. It should be effected not by an act of violation, but by influence that never lapses." I love that. Influence that never lapses. It is the gentle, consistent, ever present influence that carves down mountains into hills, and polishes river rocks into smooth discs.

Thus, in this way, as my yoga teacher has been saying, it is the only way to lasting change. To try to change a lot of things quickly is essentially a violent act, and those conditions holding the circumstances you want to change in place will surely and shortly reverse this violent attempt. Diets are a perfect example. Sure you can lose weight really fast in several ways, but all of them, because they are fast and require rapid change, are almost certainly doomed to fail. There is simply too much counter habitual momentuum to offset without a great deal of force.

David R. Hawkins, wrote an entire book about this subject: Power vs. Force. True power, he says, is staying power, and staying power is achieved by steady, unwaivering energy that is in harmony with the forces of your life. Force, on the other hand, is essentially violence. It goes against the flow of momentuum, and requires a lot of energy.

By making small changes, easily incorporated into your daily routine is the best way to effect total change over time. And when you are changing, you must make time your friend.

For example, you've finally become fed up with your level of physical fitness. The worst thing to do is to run to the local gym, spend a thousand bucks for membership and shove aside everything else to make room for 2 hours a day of workouts. Even if you were able to do this for a short period, 1. Your muscles would be sore and in shock, 2. Your family and friends will start whining about what you're doing--or downright ridiculing you, and most importantly, 3. There will be days when you logistically can't make it happen, or just don't feel like it, and then become discouraged and shortly you'll conclude it was a "dumb idea in the first place."

Here's a better way to ensure success. First, chose the smallest thing you KNOW you can do EVERY DAY. Maybe it's walking for 5 minutes, or spending 1-2 minutes when you first wake up in the morning doing stretches. Then, once that has become a habit, move up to 10 minutes of walking, or 5 min. of yoga in the morning. Before too long, you'll be doing these things effortlessly and starting to feel your level of fitness increasing. This may spur you on to wanting to make a bigger change. Don't do it. Choose the next smallest thing that seems like barely nothing, and do that day in and day out. You'll know it's become a habit when if you skip a day, you really miss it. If you DO skip a day, do so without judgment. Simply return to the routine.

This approach is how Nature herself changes. Sure, there are storms and earthquakes and landslides and such, but they are violent, extreme events that once they are over, the effects are slowly and surely worn down by the gentle routine of water and air moving inexhorably around the Gaia sphere.

As Vietnamese Buddhist monk, Thich Nhat Hanh, advises: "Drink your tea slowly and reverently, as if it is the axis on which the world earth revolves--slowly, evenly, without rushing toward the future." And so by also making changes in this way, you harness the true power of momentuum that is already available to you to become everything you want to be.

In vibrant health,

Boyd Martin, President
Subtleenergysolutions.com

Message from the President

Why Are We Doing This Incarnation Thing?

January 9th marked one year since the passing of my life partner, Shay Arave. To honor the day, a good friend took me out for brunch, and because she had only met Shay briefly, I found myself telling the "story of Shay" in my life.

That inevitably led to this classic question my friend asked: "So why do you think we are here? Why do we come here?"

Usually, the existential debate centers more on the Why we exist, rather than the What are we doing by being here. The second question, for me, is more difficult to answer, but in explaining my position I found myself saying things I hadn't said before.

What occurred to me was the phrase, "What doesn't kill you makes you stronger." From a cosmic perspective you could say, "What kills you makes you stonger." This assumes you have perceived yourself as a spiritual being beyond the physical body and world. If you haven't gotten to that perception yet, I believe you will at some point in your life or lives. It tends to happen when someone close to you dies, or you personally have a near-death experience. I think this is because the concept of one's mortality is usually met with fear and trepidation earlier in life, yet becomes more and more acceptable as we continue our travels through the time space of this planet. Either we get tired and just want it to be over with, or we have some cognition that viscerally demonstrates the limitations of physical form and the promises of total freedom from it.

Well, I digress... As to Why We're Doing This? Back to the "makes you stronger" bit. As I spoke to my friend, I got a clear conceptual picture of me as a spiritual entity plowing through this life, like a snow plow pushes aside chunks of snow and ice to clear the way for others. But this is a special snow plow. The more it plows, and the deeper it goes into the snow, the more power it derives. It's got a special type of expanding engine that runs on snow. The more it runs into, the more fuel and bigger it gets.

Now, it's important to make a distinction on this wintery metaphor: The snow plow is YOU--the spiritual YOU, your soul; the snow is experiences in life; and the road is time. So the more we plow through the experiences of our life, the more powerful and expanded we become. Not only that, because we are all unique, each of us plows our own little section of the Life Road.

To carry the metaphor further and to finally reach my conclusion: Because we are clearing a path, there are others behind us who now have an easier time traveling down the road. They can choose to take the plowed road and skip along merrily, kicking up snow angels--enjoying the journey. Or, they can choose to plow a new road--their unique road that widens the path for others following. It looks hard when you first step into that snow plow. The snow is several feet deep and there is no guarantee you won't start plowing and go right over a cliff. And yet, we get into the snow plow anyway, I think because that is what our responsibility is. We have a responsibility as spiritual beings to become more than what we started with--to become greater than the sum of our parts--and perhaps most importantly, to blaze a path for others to find their part of the road to plow.

I used to be threatened by addicts, criminals, the homeless and the starving. Even though I've been homeless and starving, I still would judge them saying that they have a choice to not suffer--they have a choice to make something different happen in their lives. But this was wrong-headed on my part. People with the most difficult lives are plowing the deepest snow, and hence are doing the most work clearing the way for others to follow. They do the most important work: teaching compassion, teaching empathy, inspiring others to do their own work, and first and foremost, teaching us all not to judge. Because through judgement do we justify not getting on that snow plow and doing our own work.

Now, I'm not a fan of suffering, but I respect it. And I'm not a fan of unhappiness, as I've learned that it is a choice. But, I would not have come to those ways of thinking without those in the deepest snow.

In vibrant health,

Boyd Martin, President Subtleenergysolutions.com

Personally...from the President

The Interconnectedness of Light

I recently had an opportunity--and blessing--to attend a couple of "Masters of Light" workshops with Michelle Leuschen here in the San Diego Area. Her purpose was to introduce the classes to the practice of "direct enlightenment," or the lighting of the brain, a practice also taught by her guru Sai Maa.

The truly remarkable thing about this idea is that it uses imagination as a tool of enlightenment. This is certainly not a new idea, but what is new, in my opinion, is that the practice is no longer strictly in the realms of spiritual teachers, gurus, adepts, mystics, or other advanced practitioners. This is something ANYONE can do--that is, if you have a functioning imagination.

The first thing we did was a diksha (DEEK-sha)--basically a blessing. This blessing is specially for the light of Sai Maa (pictured right). We picked partners and exchanged "doing" diksha on each other. Here's how it worked:

1. Center yourself into the heartspace--basically putting your attention on your heart area.
2. Ask for the Light of Sai Maa.
3. Hold the hands, palms upward, on either side of the receiver's head just above the ears.
4. Slowly move the hands so the palms are above the head about an inch with thumbs touching.
5. Slowly move the hands until palms are resting on the receiver's hairline area.
6. Remain until you stop (could be 30 seconds to a couple of minutes)--whatever feels right, or your get some sort of intuitive signal.

I received diksha first, and for me, there was a faintly bluish-pinkish light that came in through the top of my head and cascaded very slowly down through my body. It was extremely calming and I noticed all thinking stopped (this was reported by several people). There was a sense of an infinitely gentle yet powerful energy seeping down into every cell of the body.

Then, when I gave it, the same thing happened, and I noticed I was smiling broadly without really smiling at anything in particular, or smiling at any thought, since there were none.

After the diksha, Michelle encouraged the class to report what they had experienced. It was slow going because everyone was obviously blank-minded and very blissed out. I did manage to blurt out, "A bluish light. Very nice. Very nice," as I sat there with my buzzing body.

Since then, I've incorporated self-diksha into my daily practices in the morning, and have found it to be very useful for preparing myself for the rigors of daily routines and business. It has increased my calmness and my appreciation for life in general.

Although I've experienced various types of "dikshas" before, sometimes called other things, this one, for some reason, impressed me as a useful tool for expanding my awareness and well-being. And what is truly remarkable, is that we all have the capacity to call in this "light" of consciousness, and in so doing reap the considerable rewards of that calling. Just a few minutes a day can have profound effects. Try it!

In vibrant health,

Boyd Martin, President
Subtleenergysolutions.com

Personally, from the president

The Challenge of Non-Duality

I've always had a penchant for deeply philosophical books, even though I try to mix it up a little with some fiction, I inevitably return to books about spirituality. It's just in my nature, and I dare say it's part of my mission. I recently returned to a book I'd read before, Devotional Non-Duality by David R. Hawkins. Hawkins passed over last month at age 85, and so in tribute to his long life of spiritual research, I revisited the book.

This book is Hawkins at his literarily densest. I will spend 30 seconds on one sentence in an attempt to mine the subtleties and ramifications of what those words in that particular order really mean to me. Books like these are not meant to be galloped through for some sort of overall "point" or "experience"--they are meant to be meditative books, and they can change your life.

In "Devotional Non-Duality" Hawkins provides many thought experiments, metaphors and analogies that de-construct the mind and its creations--namely physical reality. As we have learned, nothing can exist without its opposite: there can be no "hot" without "cold", no "hard" without "soft"--for example, if everything was soft, we'd have no concept of "hard" because of a lack of something to compare it to.

Ultimately, there can be no "reality" without some sort of "non-reality" to compare it to. The reason this is crucially important when it comes to health is that human societies tend to setup a dichotomy between "health" and "disease". Hawkins points out that if all one's perceptions and evaluations of the their body were of health--no matter the clinical condition--there would be no disease. For example, the concept of "de-toxing" is a re-defining of a range of uncomfortable physical symptoms. Where one person would consider de-toxing desireable, another may run to their conventional doctor who may provide a diagnosis of a disease. In the de-tox case, the person may make it a point to drink more water, breathe more deeply, exercise more and cut out the junk food and return to a comfortable, joyous place. The person with the disease diagnosis is now embroiled in the diagnostic morass of fears, symptoms, testing and drug treatments which may or may not return them to "health".

This is a crucial understanding, particularly when it has been shown that, for example, 93% of all cancers resolve on their own, and do so without any medical intervention. What this demonstrates to me is that what we call "cancer the disease" is really simply another strategy the body uses to maintain health.

Hawkins makes the point that there is really only one thing: Love. All creation is caused by it, and all things return to it. And this is what is called "non-duality thinking". In other words, there is no condition other than love, and thusly by analogy it can be said that love equals health equals well-being equals joy, etc. etc. By accepting this premise you have no choice but to realize that everything you experience is loving and good, despite its outward or initial appearance. It requires a re-purposing of the mind so that there are no good/bad polarities--only loving goodness.

In the case of extreme tragedies, losses, injuries and the various "evils" humanity brings upon itself, there is an element of eternal love somewhere within these experiences. Does not tragedy create the necessity of its opposite? Does not "evil" require "good"? In most religious traditions there is an "evil" force, entity, or faction that has come to existence "from a loving eternity" or is embodied as a "fallen angel" or as something "separate from God." In each case, it is some opposite phenomenon to its creator, but as the story plays out, that phenomenon or force returns to its creator.

Hawkins further demonstrates that it is the mind and the ego that create the differences in the world for the purpose of giving individuality to the personality. By replacing these perceptions of separation with those of connection and unity, one can return to a complete view of the world as a loving, compassionate, peaceful place. Yes, my pet died, but it is returning to love--it is returning to who I truly am. Yes, there is a pain in my back, but it is just another experience of how my body re-adjusts to continued joy and well-being.

By living in non-duality, health is all there is--even if another person defines a symptom or condition as disease. This is not denial--it is an awareness that every tiny expression of sensation and feeling is ultimately bringing you back to love and joy. It is a process--a coming to fruition, a celebration of creation in love.

To live this way is challenging, but it is extremely rewarding because life begins to make more and more sense, and after a while becomes miraculous.

In vibrant health,

Boyd Martin, President
Subtleenergysolutions.com

Personally, from the President...

Reaction vs. Creation

Most of our lives are spent reacting to what happens to us. And it seems the more intense or negative the circumstance, the more we react to it. This is only natural, because we are beings learning about good and bad, judgment and forgiveness. But what is it that we learn ultimately from all of our intense experiences? We learn that most basic lesson there is: We created it, and are creating it at every moment. Sometimes it takes years to come around to that learning, but that is what we're here to learn.

I used to say I was always trying to "get out ahead of my life." I think it was one of Carlos Casteneda's shaman teachers who said something to the effect that one must "meet the whole of life head on" in order to gain control or regain creativity. I've come to see that by embracing the fact of my own creation, life begins to have so much more meaning, and in this embrace I feel "out in front" of what's happening to me.

I'll catch myself, especially when waking up in the morning, going through lists of things I "must" accomplish or there will be dire consequences. This is reacting to life, because the illusions of future think are driving all the possible scenarios I'm trying to avoid. I am at the mercy of my own scenarios that are dictating my actions and behaviors.

It is better to wake up in the morning with an agenda that creates my life in the highest and best way I can imagine. There--that's much more fun, and more healthy... and, more creative. Instead of reacting to my interpretation of my current or future circumstances, I assess those circumstances as simply part of a "life sculpture" in progress. I mean, just because the outward circumstances of my life don't match my highest imagination doesn't mean I'm in any danger. On the contrary, it means I'm in process and well on my way to living the life of my dreams.

In vibrant health,

Boyd Martin, President
Subtleenergysolutions.com