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Light, Sand, and the Spine

10/25/2014

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It's a mistake to picture the spine as a compact column of iron, like it's a steel girder. It is the central axis of of our skeleton and supports our body, and it is dense compared to the periphery, our hands and feet. Nine of the vertebrae, in the coccyx and the sacrum, are fused, but the 24 articulating vertebrae are actually arranged quite loosely, lightly, and so very flexibly.

There is also space between these 24 vertebrae, space filled with spongy spinal discs. There are 23 of them to help hold the whole intricate tower block together and absorb pressure. Health literature often describes the spinal discs as 'shock absorbers', but again we want to avoid mechanical images when we practice yoga.

Instead, picture light infusing the spine. Within the discs, in the protein jelly, is silica. Silica is not just in the spinal discs, but on the surface of our skin and in our cells throughout, as abundantly in our bodies as it is in Earth. Silica crystals are found in all of nature, the living like trees and the non-living like sand. The same shimmery, soft, crystalline material you see on the beach is also within our bodies.


PictureLong Beach Island, N.J., Oct 2014
When light ether interacts with silica quartz crystal whether in our spine or on a leaf, there begins a process of lengthening and elongating. As forces are organized more into the vertical, rather than horizontal, a refinement and elegance emerge in the forms of nature. We see this in plants, grasses and grains, ('Last Gasp of Summer', Sept 21, 2014) and in the human body.

In yoga, some asanas are organized into the horizontal form and others, like the headstand (above), the vertical. No matter the weight applied in the vertical poses, there is the capacity to feel the spine lengthen and elongate. If we act consciously, with active observation, this aids the light-ether effect not just in poses but in our personal sphere, in our relationships and interactions with others, as well.

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Shingles and "Clipboard Man"

10/17/2014

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It's a funny moment when your private space tracks the public arena, when the two converge as they are in the current chapter of the story called My Life.

I am in a hospital room, with a member of my family who is not just recovering from surgery but also suffering from a contagious disease. Shingles is not Ebola. It's not deadly. You have to touch the weeping wounds or come into direct contact with the fluids to contract shingles. But doctors are worried about micro-particulate matter in this humid, small room. So, here I sit, wearing a face mask, latex gloves and a plastic dressing gown, a mini-isolation unit within an isolation unit, watching T.V.'s repetitive Ebola loop: the footage of the infected nurses, the Dallas hospital, anonymous yellow, hazmat bodysuits, and of course, "Clipboard Man."

"Clipboard Man," reportedly of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, is walking along the infected without any protective gear. This photo (left) was on BBC News' home page yesterday; U.S. broadcasters ran it all day long without commentary or question. Online, I've seen two reasons offered up for his lack of protection: one, he was assisting the medical staff as they have a hard time seeing through their masks (how then are they able to treat a patient?) and two, the patient was already fully protected anyway.

Notice what is lacking: any panic or even talk about the possibility he may be carrying tiny, particulate matter of this disease and putting others at risk. Not even concern for his safety, whoever he is exactly. No. Precautions are reserved for, um, shingles. No. The panic over the 'problem' of Ebola is reserved for the masses. When you consume the news, realize journalists only have jobs if they meet deadlines. The one sure way to meet them in this pressurized 24/7 cycle is to package a story as crisis. It's the easiest way; asking questions and researching answers takes just too much time.

I saw the subsequent photos of "Clipboard Man." He boarded the plane without gear, disembarked on the other end, and went into an ambulance, also without gear. If this was pure institutional ineptness, don't you think at some point along the journey someone would've reminded him that he forgot something?
 
Problem. Reaction. Solution.
You control the problem, you control the reaction and you control the solution. The U.S. government owns the patent on the Ebola virus itself. It quite literally owns this problem. So, I watch -- sweating in these synthetics -- the 'reaction' part: where and how authorities are reacting -- and the flip-side -- when there is no reaction at all.
TBC


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