I know….change your mind, change your heart, change your life. It’s a mantra I’ve been repeating for the past 20+ years that I’ve been teaching people to meditate. “Just meditate,” the idea goes, “and everything will be better.” But this is rarely the case. Partly because meditation alone can rarely really change you and also because it’s hard to learn to meditate in the best way on your own. Don’t give up! But also don’t be naive. There are three main things you need to keep in mind before you try the “just meditate” cure-all-miracle-drug: Most People Need More. Most people who want to make a deep change can benefit from having a meditation practice. And the practice can be a crucial tool. But…most people need to include other changes like changing what they’re doing with their physical body, or their consumption habits (food, drugs, TV, internet). Also, it helps… Read More
Hummingbird Medicine
On the path to happiness, the moment just before breakthrough is often the most intense, and also the time we’re most likely to resist. A hummingbird got caught in my new studio here in Matilija Canyon. I tried like hell, along with my partner and our 3 year old, to coax it toward the open doorway and window, but it wouldn’t go there. Finally I had to climb up on a chair and grab it, take it out, and release it. One time my teacher used this image to describe that moment when we are about to break through. That moment when the bird is finally captured is it’s most terrifying moment. It thinks it’s in the clutches of a predator. Only you know that it’s okay. On the spiritual path – especially if you’re working on deep healing – it can be really simile. That force, Grace – whatever… Read More
Decoding BACKBONE: Purpose, Passion and Power for the Modern Man
The subtitle for my new Men’s Book BACKBONE is “The Modern Man’s Ultimate Guide to Purpose, Passion, and Power“. The publishing world is a funny commercial entity. Every new book has to gave a snazzy title and subtitle. And if you don’t look deeper, you could make the mistake of reading my book title this way. After going around and around with my publisher, this final title and subtitle came to me as THE TITLE – when I finally wrote it the way it is now, I wasn’t open to any more discussion. The book is like a course in book form to help men develop “backbone” – that uniquely masculine mix of energies that help a man hold his own on the journey of life and get and give the very best to their world. Men who lack backbone are disappointers. They disappoint their families, they disappoint their lovers…. Read More
Asana or Vasana: Snake Oil and Deep Medicine in the Modern Yoga World
No one knows just how old the practices of yoga are. But for sure we can say that our current time is the biggest heyday of yoga. More people worldwide practice yoga today than in any other time in history. But the heart of modern yoga is not in ancient India, it’s in modern America – and this heart placement has with it some very wiggy implications. Now yoga, like any popular product, has many many different expressions, some of them wonderful, some harmful, some lame, and some just plain weird. All of this only really matters if you happen to be someone who really wants the deep inner transformation that yoga was originally designed for. Of course when I say yoga is more popular than ever, it’s more accurate to say the word yoga is more popular than ever. What most people today are doing is not really yoga,… Read More
