I hope you all enjoyed a wonderful Beltane and May Day. Here in Peru it is autumn and today is Labor Day - seems like an excuse to let off lots of fireworks and have marching bands play! The nights are cold here - it is 11500 feet in Cusco and the days warm and sunny - pretty similar to the climate in La Paz which makes sense as it is only a few hundred miles away and 500 feet higher.

The people here are very friendly and happy to help me as I learn more Spanish, though I think my accent sounds a little weird! I am ok with some words but when a word is spelled the same as in English I sometimes have forgotten to use Spanish pronunciation of the letters! Fortunately Spanish spelling is 100% the same as the pronunciation (unlike English where the same letter may have several different sounds depending on the word) so I have hope that I will improve.

This entry was posted on May 2, 2011 at 10:51 PM and has received 600 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.

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 536 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.

I first came across polyamory in the Radical Honesty/Getting Real world in 2000. And I saw Clara Griffin speak on poly at the Building Bridges conference in 2001. At the time it seemed a pretty weird idea of being honest about dating multiple people. But as I had experienced dating multiple people without honesty (ie cheating) on both sides of the fence which was not fun so I knew that there might be something to honest multiple partners. My next long term relationship with Sandy was open and was a vehicle for both our personal growths. My experience is that all relationships can be an aid to growing spiritually and that poly ones can be a way to grow even faster. Party due to the extra people and situations. partly due to the assumption in a poly relationship that lots of extra explicit communication will be required up front.  And poly people general do seem to do more learning about relationship issues and how to solve them than mono people - or at least the ones I meet do.

More recently I have studied energy systems such as chakras and meridians and learned that different people have different capacities to relate to multiple partners at once. Some people have "wiring" to be more jealous than others (and this "wiring" can be changed either way with energy work and experience). And some people just don't form the same energetic bonds as others.

Here is Bolivia I have not come across any poly groups - but doesn't mean that they don't exist. And if the Latin culture here is anything like France then  the concept of mistresses is common and  can be dealt with in a open way. I just read the book "Sideways: Travels with Kafka, Hunter S and Kerouac" by Patrick O'Neil and he talks about the pattern of young people in Columbia dating multiple partners. He thinks that folks here have a much more released attitude to sex that in the US. Anyway I recommend this book for wild travel adventures and a young man's journey to learn about himself. It is funny too!

This is my last week in Bolivia - I felt sad earlier this week thinking about leaving not having done everything I wanted to - and now I accept what is (thank you EFT adn Byron Katie for your help on this!). I will be back in Rockville for only one week so if you want to see me the 4/6 Sandbox on Polyamory as a spirirutal pah would be a good time. The rest of the week I am going to various healers, buying supplies for my next trip and at the weekend to a Mark Dunn workshop on using consciousness to heal and to working large group morphic fields. On Tuesday 4/12 I fly to Mexico to the Mayan temples and the beach for a workshop with Sylvia Brallier who I met at FSG a few years ago when I got my tattoo. Then on to Peru. I don't expect to be back in Rockville until December for Yule party...

This entry was posted on March 31, 2011 at 8:28 PM and has received 597 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.

I remember discovering Tantra a few years ago - I think at one of Michael Goodman's groups then at the Hollies Sandbox and BEST events. Actually the Sandbox dinners started as a place to discuss up coming tantric events.... I remember the delicious sense of connection with others and of being more alive. Later I got into the spiritual aspect of tantra - doing white tantric yoga at Kundalini yoga retreats where you look into your partners eyes all day while doing yoga and meditation. Intense work, clears old patterns and moves a lot of energy! I am also a great fan of India having visited it for 3 weeks in 1986. I just read Michael Wood's "A South Indian Journey" about his travels to temples in Tamil Nadu - the insense, deep spirituality and the mass of people. So I image the movie Tantric Tourists will be fun and interesting too!

Here in Bolivia I am going to a mediation center each week - doing clearings and learning new meditations (in Spanish). And on Saturday I am teching a yoga for prosperity workshop there together with my yogi friend, Jamila. One thing I love about Bolivia is the fresh fruit that I buy at the market - for Bs 40 (about $6 USD) I get about 20 lbs of bananas, apples, peaches, mangoes, avocados plus some strange and new fruits that I don't even know the names of! And it is all locally grown and I think mostly is organic.(They don't have official organic fruit labels here). Tastes great for breakfast! I have been making my own almond milk in a blender (6 almonds, small glass water, teaspoon of olive oil blended for 2 minutes) to pour on the fruit and nuts that I eat for breakfast. Raw food - healthy and yummy too. :-)

This entry was posted on March 24, 2011 at 1:43 AM and has received 568 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.

Sometimes life is funny, sometimes absurd, sometimes coincidences amaze me. Laughter is always good medicine what ever is happening in my life - health challenges, financial issues, relationship problems. Laughter and the meaning of life is what this week's Sandbox is about. I just saw a Joe Dispenza movie where he mentions a study of diabetes patients where they ate some sugary food then 50% of them got insulin for an hour and the other 50% watched a comedy movie for an hour. They measured the DNA repairs in each group related to panaceas function - both improved - and the laughter group had improved twice as much as the insulin group...

Here in Bolivia I had a big clearing yesterday - lots of diarhea starting at 5am and very low energy. I got some Reiki from my roommate Vicki and some remote healing from Glory Lane and Sandra Soloman in US which all helped. And took a long salt/baking soda bath which is good for cleaning toxines out of the body and clearing the aura (and relaxing!). I fasted most of the day to give my body more energy to heal.  And I think the "cause" of this one day sickness was too much fear of the future, unprocessed violence from a movie (Lord of the Rings part III) and the  day after carnival hangover energy from the whole town (I don't drink but I  am very sensitive to others' energy). I also did some merdian healing on my large intestine meridian - which by the way (coincidence?) according to Chinese medicine is most active at 5am- 7am which is when the diarrhea started. Anyway I feel wonderful today and working on staying in the "now" and letting spirit take care of the future. :-)

This entry was posted on March 10, 2011 at 3:06 PM and has received 803 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.

Happy Mardi Gras! Here in Bolivia Mardi Gras, Fat Tuesday or Carnival as they call it here is a 4 day weekend holiday - sort of like 4th July time four with fireworks, dancing, BBQs, drinking and lots of parties and crazy clothes. Groups of dancers practice for months to get their moves right and to make outfits. The whole country shuts down for 4 days. I guess in theory this is something to do with Lent starting on Wednesday but I think it has turned into a reason to have a party (and Bolivians don't need much excuse to have a party any day of the year :-)

This entry was posted on March 8, 2011 at 3:30 PM and has received 504 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.

I have always been interested in physics - the math behind why we are here and how the cosmos works - black holes, quantum particles and more. I took a math degree at university and got to study some quantum mechanics then - I remember being very confused about the whole thing, while fascinated at the same time! In the last ten years I have also become interested in spiritual work and our connection to the divine and finding the god within each of us. I am very interested in how some modern science connects the two... so the movie this tie at Sandbox "Crossing The Event Horizon" is intriguing.  Note this gathering was scheduled originally in January but then we had that big snow storm so we are repeating this week, as last time only two folks made it though the snow and even they had to sleep over due to the snow depth!

Here is Bolivia I am going to a Kabbalah workshop on Friday on the Ana B'Koah meditation - it is at a local spiritual center called Kryon House that I found though my friend Jamila. I did some exploring of La Paz last week and found a British bar called Oliver's Travels in the middle of an old part of town. While I was assumed to see British beer and food the main interests were the large book exchange and a chat with a Liverpublian who has lived in Australia and South America since 1981 when he got fed up with Margret Thatcher. He earns enough in a year working in Australia as a miner to travel for two years elsewhere. Books are one of he few things that are relatively expensive here - Bs 80 - 150 each (USD $11 -20) for a used English book. Or 50% off if you in another title. Spanish books are not much cheaper, having been imported from Europe in many cases. I bought a copy of Lewis Caarrolls "Alicia en el pais de la maravillas" (Alice in Wonderland) which I am very slowly reading - having to look up 10-20% of the words in a dictionary.

I was tired and depressed last week - I am not sure if is lack of a vitamin I take for happiness (5HTP), change from living with large family to quiet space here, earth vibration changes and detox or getting used to the high energy of a city after living in the countryside. Or a combination of all he above. But I have been using some clearing methods from Donna Eden's book Energy Medicine every day and today I cleared a large morphic field of society cold depression from around my head using Mark Dunn healing method and felt much happier afterwards. :-) I am going to have some 5HTP shipped to me here because i have tried about 6 pharmacies here and they don't carry it.

This entry was posted on February 23, 2011 at 4:41 PM and has received 709 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.

As Valentines day draws near and following the amazing Erotic Reading Night Sandbox we turn to the shadow side of Eros. Just like alcohol, drugs, food, TV it is possible to be addicted to sex. To use it as a distraction from the "now" and from connecting with others and spirit. I have been there myself - using masturbation as stress relief and a way to avoid thinking about my problems for a few minutes. I remember breaking this addiction when after seeing John of God for a spiritual surgery the post surgery instructions said no spicy food, no alcohol and no sexual excitement for 40 days. Not even no sex, beyond that to no sexual excitement. During the 40 days I got close to bringing the "bottle" of fantasy near to drinking a few times but avoiding swallowing. And learned other ways of shifting stuck energy and releasing stress (or avoiding it in the first place!) - such as yoga, meditation and enough sleep.

Meanwhile here in Bolivia week 4 I visited Lake Titicaca last weekend nd stayed a night on the Isle del Sol where according to Inca legend the Sun was born. The beautiful azure colored waters, strong sun and high altitude (12000 feet) plus the deep spiritual energy of the land all helped me feel that I was closer to the sun and ready for lift off! There are no cars on the island - but lots of animals grazing or working carrying loads up the steep hills - donkeys, llamas, sheep, pigs. It was nice to breath fresh air (La Paz can be a bit polluted) and was a game to side step the piles of poop from the animals! I had an amazing meditation experience on top of the island - feeling one with all, prana flow up and down my spine. On retuning I moved out of my friend's Jamila's house in the mountains on edge of La Paz and into the city center to live with a new friend Vicky who does Reiki, The Reconnection and other energy healing and spiritual work. I am paying B$ 840 per month for rent and utilities - that is USD $120. Economically it is cheaper to live abroad than in US. And with Skype and gotomypc it is no problem to run my US businesses from here. If you interested in more details of how to do this whether you have a job or your own business I suggest you read the" 4 hour work week" by Tim Ferris...

This entry was posted on February 13, 2011 at 8:06 PM and has received 1004 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.

I enjoy sharing my journey with others. And may be some others will be inspired to follow their intuition - whether it is travel, new work, relationship, health or other. :-) The husband of one of the yoga teachers I met here just went on an 11 day shamanic training" in the Amazonian jungles of Bolivia - perhaps next time I will go too. (Yes Bolivia includes mountains, salt seas, gold mines and Amazonian jungle. It used to have a Pacific coast too but lost that in a war with Chile in 1879 funded by British nitrate interests who wanted the rich nitrate deposits in that area... and now is negotiating to get it back in exchange for some natural gas rights)

I had a great time at Lake Titicaca this weekend. I met an American woman and her Peruvian boyfriend in Copacabana (the on in Bolivia not Brazil) - she is living half time in Peru which is easy to do visa wise because you can enter Peru for 3 months then leave for a few days and get a new 3 month visa (where as Bolivia you get a maxx of 3 months per year). Anyway she is a Naturalpathic Doctor and we had interesting talk about healing and the shifts as we move to 2012. Look out for a big dollar currency crisis later this year folks. Her boyfriend mostly spoke Spanish and French - so I got to practice both my new Spanish and my high school French! Though sometimes it came out as Franish :-)

The Lake and Isle de Sol were amazing - more on that and my new living arrangements later...

This entry was posted on February 7, 2011 at 9:41 PM and has received 504 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.

I did a 3 hour healing session today in La Paz and am a bit tired! All well in Bolivia - I have Skype set up and can make phone calls to clients in States and to friends. My Skype ID is abundantmichael if you want to contact me. Weather is wonderful - 70 degrees and sunny every day. Beautiful mountains and friendly people. I am learning Spanish fast with so many people to practice with!

And easy to run my computer business remotely with gotmypc, Skype and email. The 4 Hour Work Week book tips on working remotely really do work!! :-) BTW I heard from some people that thought I had sold my business and had a bundle of money in the bank allowing me time and money to travel - no! I am still running it and I have very little money in bank. I had to overcome fears and go for it. So glad that I followed my intuition and did that. Once you are abroad it actually costs less to live than in US plus there is the adventure factor of being in a new country!

This entry was posted on January 20, 2011 at 8:13 PM and has received 506 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.