It used to be an easy shorthand to describe somebody at the top of their game as the “guru” of fill in the blank… the tech guru, the marketing guru, the fitness guru, etc. In Western vernacular, “guru,” came to mean someone who possesses deep wisdom, experience, and insights, and is often sought after for guidance or advice.
I was on time but without a moment to spare, so I sneaked into the back of the crowded yoga session right before the teacher, who was new to me, locked the doors. I plopped down on a cushion, closed my eyes and began taking long deep breaths like the rest of the class. Long, deep belly breaths. But not for long.
Take a pill and feel better! As Westerners that’s what we’ve been conditioned to do. No muss, no fuss! Just take the pill and be done with it! Of course, as we know for these “mood managing”medications, the trade-off is side effects. The side effect reported to me most frequently is the narrowing of the whole emotional spectrum.
Demons – or spirit entities are a very real thing in the beliefs of indigenous cultures. And one of the beliefs is that whenever a person is in a state of altered consciousness, a portal can open for these malicious entities to “possess” a person – and maybe hang around long after. Having said that, we know that when a person takes psychedelics they are entering an altered state of consciousness.
Hold your applause, but tomorrow, December 24th, is my birthday. I’m in good company with Santa and baby Jesus!
If someone asked me how old I feel I am, I’d say about 450 years. All the shit I’ve been through to get where I am today, I’ve moved mountains through centuries. You could say I’m a young 450-year-old. I stay in shape 😉
“Oh no, microdosing psilocybin won’t do a thing for me!” he exclaimed, in total disbelief during our initial discovery session. He went on to tell me he was wrestling with grief and depression from his partner dying a couple of years ago and trauma from an abusive childhood. “I need something stronger to knock all that out!” he declared.
In our take-a-pill-and-feel-better culture, people just want relief by taking that pill – or a whole bunch of them. Of course, if that was an approach that worked, we wouldn’t have an epidemic of anxiety, depression and despair in our Western world.
Did you see? Last month the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and state police nabbed a 23-year old man. Well, I really want to call him a kid but of course I’m a woman of a certain age – so everybody seems pretty young these days to moi (that is eu in Portuguese, where I’m now living;) Anyway, the cops and DEA in Connecticut arrested 23-year-old Weston Soule for growing whopping amounts of magic mushrooms in his house.
“Oh no, microdosing psilocybin won’t do a thing for me!” he exclaimed, in total disbelief during our initial discovery session. He went on to tell me he was wrestling with grief and depression from his partner dying a couple of years ago and trauma from an abusive childhood. “I need something stronger to knock all that out!” he declared.
In our take-a-pill-and-feel-better culture, people just want relief by taking that pill – or a whole bunch of them. Of course, if that was an approach that worked, we wouldn’t have an epidemic of anxiety, depression and despair in our Western world.
Many of us claim to cherish honesty, but the truth is, we engage in various forms of dishonesty regularly. Research indicates that, on average, we will tell lies (including white lies!) approximately every half-hour during conversations.
These lies are often not deliberate as we’ve developed patterns of concealing or altering our genuine inner feelings – both to others and to ourselves and the lack of honesty can undermine our relationships.
Imagine going on a week-long all-inclusive retreat, settling in, and then finding out that there’s no running water. What would you do?
This is what my retreaters were presented with when they showed up at our luxury villa in southern Portugal last week!
In fact, the whole experience got so cozy and familiar that it became a running joke that Kevin, the plumber, was everybody’s new best friend…