October 2007
The Dreaming Mind
A Conversation with Robert Moss
by Sydney Murray
I am a dream enthusiast. I love to dream every night and well, sometimes I daydream too. I have kept a record of my dreams for over twenty-five years. I am amazed and sometimes perplexed by my dreams but I am usually having fun in them. I think that’s why it is such a safe place for me. And I often want to know who those people were that I was having so much fun with in them. And in wanting to understand more, I spoke with Robert Moss, the renowned dream researcher and a self-confessed dreamer. He is the author of Conscious Dreaming and has written a new book called the Three “Only” Things - Tapping the Power of Dreams, Coincidence and Imagination. Click here for more...
Happiness Ph.D.
Academia Embraces Positive Psychology
by Lorri Gifford
“The mind is its own place, and in itself, can make heaven of Hell, and a hell of Heaven.” – John Milton
Are you happy? Do you remain optimistic when faced with adversity? When you hear about pollution in industrialized nations being at an all time high, terrorism lurking around the corner, or war in the Middle East, where does your mind go? In order to create a shift towards a more peaceful planet, we need to take a look at our own minds, our psychology, or as Webster defines it “the science of mind and behavior.” It is the state of our minds that is contributing to the state of the planet. We can view the world around us and what is happening at any given moment in two ways. We can make “a hell of heaven”. From this point of view we see the world as a dangerous place, and one that we do not want to raise children in. Click here for more...
Artist of the Month
Astrology
Reviews
Five Wishes: How Answering One Simple Question Can Make Your Dreams Come True
by Gay Hendricks, with foreward by Neale Donald Walsh
New World Library, Novato, CA $18.00
Many know Gay Hendricks as the co-founder of the Spiritual Cinema Circle, which has brought high quality spiritually focused and thought-provoking movies to people in more than seventy countries around the world. Ever wonder how this powerhouse of inspiration and motivation got on his path? Would you believe that it started one evening with his reluctant attendance at a cocktail party and the conversation that would change his life forever? This chance encounter would make Hendricks question his life on all fronts. For Hendricks, this shift in perspective and consciousness came down to one simple question Read more book reviews here.
Vision Cafe
October 28th at Seaside in Encinitas
by James Anthony Ellis
That voice. It’s a silky smooth sound that comes from some other place. Is it from the ethers? Or from a haven of the musica universalis? It is all at once soothing and illuminating. In common terms, it originates from Deva Premal, a German-born vibrato who performs her spiritual chants at the Seaside Center for Spiritual Living in Encinitas on Sunday, Oct. 28, 2007. In esoteric terms — of which she is most likely akin — this voice originates from some place deeper and higher.Read more here.
Greek to Me
©2007 by Michael Raysses
Growing up, things that came in groups of three always appealed to me. When playing baseball, “three strikes you’re out” seemed fair enough. If you couldn’t hit the ball after three shots, you deserved a little quiet time to ponder your inabilities. The genie that came out of Aladdin’s lamp granted three wishes, a scenario I addressed by making sure that if I had been in Aladdin’s shoes, my third wish would have been for three more. And to anyone who questioned why the Three Stooges weren’t a quartet, I had but one word: Shemp. Read more of Michael Raysses' monthly column here.
Holistic Health
by Valerie Logal
I recently attended a women’s expo in Southern California. My mission there was to spread the word that early detection of breast cancer can save lives. Like many women, I have lost several friends to breast cancer. And the statistics from leading researchers are staggering. Every two minutes a woman in the United States is diagnosed with breast cancer; one in eight women will develop breast cancer; breast cancer is the leading cause of death in women between the ages of 20 and 59; ninety to ninety-five percent of women who develop breast cancer do not have a family history of the disease; approximately 3 million American women are living with breast cancer and 1 million don’t know it.* Click here for more...
The Mind-Gut Connection
A First-Timer’s Account of Colon Hydrotherapy
by Nicole Pugh
I have known about the importance of colon irrigation for overall health for almost a decade. But, I admit it; I had also been putting off getting one for just as long. Why? Every time I picked up the phone to make an appointment, my palms would sweat, my heart would race and I would hear loud and clear the x-ray technician’s voice the last time I went to the hospital for a colonoscopy. “This is just going to pinch a bit,” said a not-so-reassuring tech above the clatter of mechanical devices. A word of advice—never trust a hospital worker with a tight schedule’s definition of a “pinch.” Needless to say, my procrastination (and fear) was put to an end with a visit to local colon hydrotherapist Linda Brees. Click here for more...
What is Holistic Medicine?
by Archie Underwood, BA, HHP
In the city of San Diego we have the HHP designation, which stands for Holistic Health Practitioner. This title is given to massage therapists and bodyworkers with over 1000 hours of training and who have also passed a certification exam. Many of these practitioners do indeed provide holistic services; their approach to the body is designed to enable a natural healing response and to harness the power of intention. This recognition of the whole person is both refreshing and unique in our specialized and compartmentalized culture. Click here for more...
The Living Arts
Earth - Mind - Body
by Jesse Wolf Hardin
When I first started developing the Animá teachings, I wrote extensively on the so-called mind/body dichotomy. I brought attention to how the “rational mind” seems to increasingly run roughshod over the needs and instincts of the sensate body as well as over the callings of the heart. I pointed out how our use of language contributes to this dynamic. For example, “minding” is doing what we are ordered to do and “following the heart” means doing what feels right instead of what we are told. I described the paralyzing ambivalence I sometimes encountered in my students at the Animá Center which was actually a stalemate between intuitive bodily knowing and a contesting “head”. This thing we call the “mind” seems to have switched in modern times from acting as an agent of the conscious and whole self, to being a self-critical despot and purveyor of illusion. It will tell us anything we want to hear while paradoxically coming up with arguments against everything that we dare to believe in, choose to care about, or hope to do. Click here for more...
Alchemy of Mind
by Bhava Ram
When a broken back and failed surgery ended my career as a foreign news correspondent, I began a slow descent into darkness. I was in chronic pain. Yet, the painkillers and tranquilizers Western doctors prescribed for me deepened my despondency while at the same time numbing me and masking my soul. Five years later, I was diagnosed with “terminal” cancer. I felt like a victim, that adversaries and enemies abounded and that the whole world was conspiring against me. As my anger and frustration increased, my friends began to disappear, my world contracted and I moved toward despair. Click here for more...
Déjà Vu: A Conversation with Director Henry Jaglom
by Stephen Simon
What happens if you meet the person of your dreams, the one you’ve always known was out there somewhere, and that person is with someone else and so are you? Henry Jaglom’s haunting love story Déjà Vu posits just that question and weaves it into a brilliantly conceived and deeply spiritual love story. This classic independent film stars Victoria Foyt, Stephen Dillane (The Hours) and Academy Award winner Vanessa Redgrave. In Déjà Vu, a woman and a man who are in separate relationships find themselves falling in love after being brought together by a mysterious woman and a series of serendipitous incidents. Click here for more...
Boot Camp
by Michelle Hackney
Remember when we were kids? The days were full of playing with our friends outside, running as fast as we could and cheering each other on. Those were the days when exercising was fun. Now we call it “working out” and we need to schedule time for it. Committing yourself to an exercise program that you’ll not only tolerate but love can be the best way to jump-start a lifetime of fitness. Yet, traditional workouts like kickboxing and aerobics aren’t for everyone. If you’re searching for an exercise program you can stick with, consider playing outdoors like you did as a child. Click here for more...
LifeQuake™
Los Angeles
Rock Star, Radio Show Host, Teacher… Thought Leader?
by Mary Ann Reyes
Her electrifying instrumentation and original songs inspired thousands of students in the 2006 Virgin Records College Mega Tour. She has toured nationwide with Ray Parker Jr. and hosts the Number One CHR Broadcast Radio Network show “The LA Music Pipeline” in Los Angeles and Europe. She is known as “Guro El” or “Teacher” by her martial arts and percussion students and “The Black Swan” in the independent rock world. One thing is for sure, Eleanor Academia is one cosmic force that packs a punch. Read more here.
Mind States
Coaching / Holistic Counseling
© 2002-2007 by Diane Ruth Ph.D.
I have been a personal growth and prosperity coach and holistic counselor for the last thirty years. The focus of my practice is to help individuals learn how to create a fabulous and satisfying present and an amazing future. The practice of personal growth and prosperity coaching and holistic counseling differs significantly from conventional psychological therapy. Click here for more...
Viewpoint
Out of Your Mind
by Dr. David SimonPause for a moment, close your eyes, and look into your own awareness. You’ll notice that you are engaged in a perpetual internal dialogue, interpreting and evaluating what has happened, is happening, or might happen to you. This is your mind.
Your inner thoughts and feelings reflect your perceptions of the world, while your intentions and desires direct the experiences you create. Both the world around you and the world within you are changing. The greatest mystery of life is how our sense of self endures despite the fact that our experiences and thoughts are transitory.