I have loved foot massage for many years - I can't even remember when my "foot cherry" was popped it is that long ago! The feet can be a forgetten area of our body, take for granted as then support our weight for much of the day. Stuffed into shoes that may not be ideal. Now is the time to thank them with an amazing foot massage at this week's Sandbox. And learn how to give one too - which is a great skill to share with friends and lovers...

Last week I had a brief and fun visit to the US. I noticed how much fear there is at the airport and how much we American people obey the rules even when they are not healthy (eg the full body radiation scanners at the TSA) Some what different from Bolivia or Mexico, where they have rules and police but people don't take them so seriously. Now sometimes rules can be a good thing and let to more efficiency or safety. For example red lights in La Paz are taken as a suggestion to stop, not a rule. But somehow the drivers make it work. Perhaps a little chaos and freedom is good for people. And perhaps too many rules, obeying fro obeyings sake and militarist society is unhealthy for our spirits...

This week I am staying at a beach house in Mexico with 20 others on a Mayan retreat - rituals at pyramids, dancing on the beach and relaxing next to palm trees. It struck me as a vision of paradise. But then I thought how much of my reaction was from the land and how much is from seeing so many movies that declare paradise to be tropical waters, palm trees and sand? And how much is from slick marketing of carribean holidays? I do like the land here and the relaxed energy even after removing those other societial memes from view. I invite you to take a fresh look at your surroundings and see how much you see is from the land and how much is from TV and movie images of the kind of place you live in. Let me know what you think

This entry was posted on April 18, 2011 at 5:00 PM and has received 694 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.

This Wednesday Sandbox gathering we join Randy Goldberg to learn how to give (and receive!) a blissful foot massage. Reflexology is the practice of massaging the feet on a system of zones and reflex areas that reflect an image of the body on the feet with a premise that such work effects a physical change in the body. We will learn to give and get a chance to receive a forty minute session.  The benefits include relaxation, energetic balance, and improves circulation. And it feels so good you may never want it to stop!

Randy Goldberg trained in Reflexology at the Maryland Kinesiology and Wellness Institute. Randy is a former Yoga monk, a Craniosacral therapist, a world famous astrologer interviewed by the Washington Post and by CNN. He facilitates Family Constellation therapy for individuals and groups. You can reach Randy at randy (at) randygoldberg.org or 301-380-6850 www.randygoldberg.org

The workshop begins after dinner at 8pm. I invite you to join us, though as always what ever choice you make you will be honored in.

This entry was posted on April 18, 2011 at 4:56 PM and has received 1019 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.

This Wednesday Sandbox gathering we join Rukmini to learn about URBAN Gardening.

When I lived in Arlington, Virginia (before one had to be a millionaire to do so), I had a lovely backyard, raised bed garden.  Using intention and meditation, I worked with the Devas of the plants and the soil to create a beautiful garden of vegetables, herbs, and flowers, studded with crystals and providing a fragrant, verdant playground for my cats, Leo and Shabat. 

How have you attempted to connect with nature? 

Even pots (43!) on my balcony in Leesburg provided homes for bees and flowers, as well as delicious herbs for dinner. 

If you have, or have not yet, been bitten by the fierce organic gardening bug, join us in a beautiful Rite of Spring. 

At Perelandra, Machelle Small Wright's magical garden home in Jeffersonton, Virginia, I learned to muscle test and work with the Devas from the author of "Behaving as if the God in all life mattered."

I will teach about Permaculture and sustainable land use design.  This includes information about Findhorn and Perelandra, working with the nature Devas of plants in order to produce abundant growth.gardening, soil composition and testing, Organic gardening resources, No soil layer gardening, Rainwater harvesting, etc.

Rukmini Diane Bongiorni is a long-time organic gardener, trained in muscle testing and other techniques by Machelle Small Wright at Peralandra.

She is also a Feng Shui consultant, energy healer, and tarot reader. She can be reached at dbongiorni (at) hotmail.com or 202-744-3698.

The dinner is at 7 pm and the workshop begins after dinner at 8pm. I invite you to join us, though as always what ever choice you make you will be honored in.

This entry was posted on April 8, 2011 at 4:32 PM and has received 1762 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.

Barry Smiler wrote a great article There's No Such Thing As Polyamory and in my view spot on. We are moving to more personal freedom and responsibility. As Barry says:

The basic idea is that polyamory can be seen as simply a
subset or special case of everyone's right to self-determination in
all aspects of their lives. That is, polyamory could be reframed as
simply self-determination when applied to one's relationship life.

And If you haven't read Pete McWilliams book "Aint nobodies business but yours" it gives great arguments for ending Consensual Crimes including current sex crimes such as the law in some states against oral sex

http://mcwilliams.com/books/aint/toc.htm (free to read online or you can buy print copy at Amazon)

    This book is about a single idea—consenting adults should not be put in jail unless they physically harm the person or property of a nonconsenting other.

Chapter on relationships and the law is http://mcwilliams.com/books/aint/308.htm

    As of early 1996, adultery (sex with someone who is married, or sex with anyone other than your spouse if you are married) is illegal in twenty-seven states. Oral sex (called sodomy in some states)—either giving or receiving—is illegal for consenting heterosexual adults in fourteen states. Even missionary style, conventional, heterosexual sex between unmarried consenting adults is illegal in nine states. Cohabitation (living as married with someone you're not married to) is illegal in ten states.

    And let's not forget local ordinances. There are any number of laws—such as this one from Long Beach, California—which sound more like a passage from a Sidney Sheldon novel than a legal statute:

            No person shall indulge in caresses, hugging, fondling, embracing, spooning, kissing, or wrestling with any person or persons of the opposite sex . . . and no person shall sit or lie with his or her head, or any other portion of his or her person, upon any portion of a person or persons, upon or near any of the said public places in the city of Long Beach.

If business law had an equivalent to the laws concerning personal relationships, it would say, "If you're in business, you must have one partner, and only one partner, and keep that partner, until one of you dies." If this were the law, can you imagine the state of business in America? The same is true of the state of personal relationships.

This entry was posted on April 7, 2011 at 11:05 PM and has received 1301 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.

Love yourself first is the key to good realtionships. This is a great article that explains this and the law of Attraction for realtionships by my friend Dianne, who is also a gifted astrologer. As Jesus and other masters have said "Love  your neighbor like yourself" - this includes loving yourself as much as yu love others! (It doesn't say love yourself less than others). Happy relating

love

Michael

This entry was posted on April 2, 2011 at 8:27 PM and has received 1377 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.