This Wednesday Gathering we learn our own Universal Peace Journey with Joe Kennedy, Jr. in an experiential evening of movement, music, speech, photos and other creative and playful ways! How do you shift dull parts of your life and work to be fun and playful? How can you bring joy and spirit into the everyday?

The purpose of this workshop is to learn creative, fun and practical tools to help enrich our daily lives. We will use movement/body exercises, texts, musical instruments, photographs and more on our journey.
You will leave with (1) an expanded awareness of the many possibilities each day can bring and (2) practical activities you can use at home to deepen your creative connection with life on an ongoing basis.

Joe Kennedy Jr. is a performer, musician, teacher, artist, free spirit, and workshop developer. He uses voice, keyboards, world instruments, poetry, dance and video to share his vision of hope. He has played with artists of all types all over the world. Joe creates unique school programs for the Choral Arts Society of Washington, The Washington National Opera and the Kennedy Center, including Let's Make TV and Let's Make Computer Music programs. He is currently sharing Universal Peace Journeys, an original interactive multi-media production featuring student participation. Joe recently received a grant from the American Composers Forum. In addition to performing and teaching, he produces and hosts a weekly television show, Close To Nature, which has been on Arlington Independent Media for over 6 years, and he has an ongoing Creative Nature workshop series for people of all ages. You can reach Joe at: www.universalpeacejourney.com, naturezen at yahoo.com or 703-371-4495

This entry was posted on July 27, 2011 at 1:41 PM and has received 1247 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.

This Wednesday gathering 8/10/11 we learn about the Mayan Calendar and 2012 in a right brained experiencial way with Sandra Solomon.

What changes in your life and in society have you noticed as we come towards 2012? How are you prepared for all the changes happending now and coming in the next year? What is this "Mayan Calendar" all about? It is called "The Peace Calendar" and is a way to live in greater flow, and more connected to the natural rhythms of the universe. Sandra will offer an initiation into the "Mayan Archetypes and Tones of Creation." 

Sandra Solomon, Teacher, Channel/Conduit of Energetic Healing & Transformational Consultant. She is  a gifted and accomplished healer who works on both an individual, group and planetary level.  Her practice utilizes a wide range of energy modalities including, Quantum Healing which includes Reconnective   Healing and Matrix Energetics. She attunes Reiki Masters to six levels beyond Master Level through the Lightarian Institute™. Sandra is also trained in Shamballa Healing.

Sandra offers Transformational Consulting using a variety of techniques, including: the Work of Byron Katie, Psych-K  which is Psychological Kinesiology,  EFT-    Emotional Freedom Technique and The Sedona Method. These techniques assist in whole brain synchronization.  Her Transformational Consulting helps you to fine-tune your life into a more peaceful and balanced journey. She employs transformational techniques to assist you in attaining your goals.

Sandra’s explorations include quantum physics, sacred geometry, the Mayan Calendar, Kabbalah, the Sacred Alphabet, Universal Laws, the nature of reality and consciousness. She empowers people to discover their own self-authority.  You can reach Sandra at mayanone (at) juno (dot) com or 434-825-5564

This entry was posted on July 27, 2011 at 1:37 PM and has received 1387 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.

This Wednesday Sandbox gathering we learn Intro to Awareness Process to avoid self-sabotage with Gene Freeheart Long. When was the last time you wondered "Why on earth did I do that? That's not what I intended to do!"? How do you sabotage your life plans? What would your life be like without these underground patterns controlling it?

Awareness Process is a set of practices designed to help us become sharply aware of our thoughts and how they affect our reality. When we are unaware, our capacity to respond to reality in a healthy way can be greatly diminished. Many seek awareness through meditation; unfortunately, in meditation, it is very easy to fool ourselves, to get away with things that exist within the privacy of our head, and to avoid facing the shadow pieces that can disappear so quickly. We do our process in a group setting because the subtle energies in our words are more obvious when spoken out loud and witnessed by others.

The results of a greater self-awareness allows us to recognize and clear ourself of stories which affect our perception and response to the world around us. Self-awareness helps us notice when shadow pieces arise that can sabotage relationships and goals. If you have ever wondered "Why on earth did I do that? That's not what I intended to do!", it is often a lack of awareness that causes our lives to be controlled by inner factors that have escaped our attention.

This workshop is an introduction to the basic concepts of Awareness Practice, and will be very participatory - we will be practicing the concepts as quickly as we learn them.

Gene has been creating and running workshops since 1999 on personal growth, meditation, communication, body acceptance, relationships and sexuality. You can reach Gene at genefreeheart at gmail.com or 703-261-9181 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting            703-261-9181      end_of_the_skype_highlighting begin_of_the_skype_highlighting            703-261-9181      end_of_the_skype_highlighting begin_of_the_skype_highlighting            703-261-9181      end_of_the_skype_highlighting

This entry was posted on July 27, 2011 at 1:17 PM and has received 995 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.

Here are two recent articles in main stream newspapers that relate to how the "frog water is heating up"... What have you noticed has changed like this in the last year?
Michael

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/sns-rt-us-crime-identificatre76j4a1-20110720,0,7148002.story

Dozens of police departments nationwide are gearing up to use a tech company's already controversial iris- and facial-scanning device that slides over an iPhone and helps identify a person or track criminal suspects. Its use has set off alarms with some who are concerned about possible civil liberties and privacy issues. The smartphone-based scanner, named Mobile Offender Recognition and Information System, or MORIS, is made by BI2 Technologies in Plymouth, Massachusetts. An iris scan, which detects unique patterns in a person's eyes, can reduce to seconds the time it takes to identify a suspect in custody. When attached to an iPhone, MORIS can photograph a person's face and run the image through software that hunts for a match in a BI2-managed database of U.S. criminal records. Constitutional rights advocates are concerned, in part because the device can accurately scan an individual's face from up to four feet away, potentially without a person's being aware of it. Experts also say that before police administer an iris scan, they should have probable cause a crime has been committed. "What we don't want is for them to become a general surveillance tool, where the police start using them routinely on the general public, collecting biometric information on innocent people," said Jay Stanley, senior policy analyst with the national ACLU in Washington, D.C.

This entry was posted on July 27, 2011 at 12:45 PM and has received 1034 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.

I have read that the amount of information on our planet is doubling every 18 months. Each year the amount of new unique data in books, TV, movies, internet, hard disks etc is over 1.5 exabytes or about 37,000 times as much information as is in the entire holdings Library of Congress! With the increase in data it becomes harder to make decisions in a purely logical and analytical way - it takes too long to consider all possibilities in detail and we end up overwhelmed. One answer is to use our intuition more and one easy way to access the intuition is a tarot reading. So this week's Sandbox to learn how to use Tarot to make Decisions could be very useful and time saving!

I arrived in England last Wednesday and stayed with my parents. Interesting exercise in my noticing my judgments around house clutter, dirty bathroom and humpbacks. :-) My mother has a phobia about strangers coming into house because it is "a mess" hence the bathroom tap has a bad drip for more than a year but she doesn't want a plumber to enter the house for fear he sees the clutter. I worked on accepting her, my father and my self just as we are. :-)

I have been recycling old papers of mine that are at their house - found some interesting old memories - some of which I did recapitulation therapy on. I gave some old lego and other children's toys to my niece and nephew who we saw on Sunday. They seemed to like them - they were better made than the modern lego in that they had more room for using your imagination. My cousin Jenny and husband Doug moved out of London to the countryside - less stress - but I noticed she still has a pattern to keeping busy and not looking after her health. I showed her the spinal flush from Donna Eden's book to help relax which she enjoyed and can share with Doug. I think I have the same pattern as her and I have been working on releasing it for the past six months.

  As I return to USA after a few months I notice the "water is getting hotter for the frogs" here - didn't always notice it when I was in the tub of heating water along with the other frogs .... DHS immigration seems to be questioning every American citizen as they return in some detail. Showing a passport is not enough to return any more (as it is when entering UK). All part of the climate of fear I think.... Which the new DHS video just out seems to echo (this from Simon Black at http://www.sovereignman.com/ )

In its latest effort to spread fear and hate, the Ministry of Love, also known as the Department of Homeland Security, has produced an Orwellian new video intended to encourage Americans to rat each other out.  If you're not in a place to watch the video right now, I'll summarize briefly.

First of all, it's one of the most pathetic attempts at filmmaking in the history of motion picture; the average shampoo commercial has better acting and production quality... and is much more subtle in its message. In the world of Homeland Security, terrorists all drive unmarked full-size vans, wear hooded sweatshirts, and deposit backpacks in conspicuous public places. They might as well have had a cackling James Bond villain twirling his moustache in the corner.

At its core, the video is filled with scenes of ordinary citizens spying on each other and alerting the authorities to their compatriots' suspicious deeds. In my favorite scene, a woman calls the police after snooping over the shoulder of a young man typing away on his smartphone. Naturally, it's all for the common good... for everyone's safety and security. In fact, everyone shares in this responsibility according to DHS, so we should all be on our toes to rat each other out at the first sign of suspicious activity. Apparently this is yet another obligation that comes with citizenship. 

For the majority of people who watch this video, their chests will swell with pride in the knowledge that they now have a role to play in their country's security. These are the folks walking around in the darkness, unaware.  You can't talk to them about things like personal liberty as they'll just regurgitate the propaganda they've been spoon fed since birth. These are the same folks who take their shoes off at the airport and proclaim, "Whatever it takes to keep us safe," or "I have nothing to hide!"

Truthfully, real criminals aren't back alley types, but rather the policymakers who spread fear and paranoia in the name of justice. They cloak their crimes in good deeds while building a brainwashed class of future Thought Police.  If Orwell had written a prequel to 1984, this would all be part of it. It seems the boiling frog is getting just a bit warmer...

May the water your are in not get too hot or may you notice the temperature rising and hop to a better location!

PS We have three talented healers living at my house: Randy, Rukmini and Sandra. Plus myself remotely. Learn more about what we can do and help support this Sandbox gathering place at http://abundantmichael.com/blog/page.cfm/Sandbox-Healers

In response to a question about 9/11 - Yes 9/11 happened and just because the terrorists are criminals doesn't mean that  they are the only ones committing crimes against society

1. There are many questions about how 9/11 happened and who was really behind it that don't match the official story
2.  Many changes from our government afterwards that reduced our freedoms and increased fears which make people easier to manipulate now
3. Two trillion dollar wars (Iraq and Afghanistan) justified on the basis of 9/11 that profited many powerful people with connections to the government that are still costing us billions of dollars per day now.
4. Increase of US debt to breaking point of US dollar
5.   A lot of spin and avoiding of news topics covered in other countries media in the newspapers and TV here in US.
6. Great increase in spying on the people in US and UK - CCTV, email scanning, phone taps without warrants

This entry was posted on July 27, 2011 at 12:05 PM and has received 842 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.

This Wednesday Sandbox gathering we learn how to help make complex decisions Tarot with Diane Rukmini Bongiorni
Tarot cards have been used by mystics and occultists in efforts at divination or as a map of mental and spiritual pathways, perhaps from
ancient Egypt or the Kabbalah. Dr Carl Jung said that ‘the cards are descendants from the archetypes of transformation’. Come learn the meanings and how to use Tarot cards for decision-making. 

A tarot card reading will give you the general outcome of the ways matters are progressing, IF you don’t make any changes to the way you are thinking, feeling or acting – and the cards assume you don’t make any changes. There is very little in life that could be classed as “fixed.” We all have free will in our choices, decisions and actions. Sometimes things may hit you unexpectedly, however you can always decide how you react to those.

If the outcome is looking rather challenging, you have the opportunity to make changes, so that you can steer your life in a more positive direction. See some light at the end of the tunnel, when all looks dark, bleak and hopeless around you. It can bring some hope, optimism and encouragement to your life. Often that will be enough to open up your own inner resources such as creativity, problem solving, intuition and the ability to notice a different way forward.

You can consider an “alternate future” to the one which is currently unfolding and make better, more informed choices for yourself. You can explore various options to create the future you desire, and look at ways of enabling you to get to where you really want to go. You can then make the most informed choices and decisions, as the cards can make you aware of potential positives and challenges in each path. Tarot cards cannot make any decisions for you.  (From http://www.learntarotonline.com/articles/tarotcanhelpwith.html)

Rukmini has been reading tarot for over 35 years.  She has been blessed with the gift to receive deep guidance and information in very complex situations.
She is also a Feng Shui consultant, energy healer, and tarot reader.You can reach her at 202-744-3698 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting            202-744-3698      end_of_the_skype_highlighting or rukminidmaria at hotmail.com

This entry was posted on July 27, 2011 at 11:55 AM and has received 1192 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.

  Breathwork refers to many forms of conscious alteration of breathing, connecting the inhale and exhale, when used with deep relaxation. Holotropic breath work is a breathing technique that can heal suppressed emotions such as anger, fear, sadness, etc. This mind expanding technique helps people shift into an alternate states of consciousness. Rebirthing starts with lying down, relaxing and breathing. Deep inhalations and relaxed exhalations form the "Alpha" brain waves. Long and careful attention to the relaxed breath will reveal a many layered pattern of inhibitions and exposes our unconscious patterns of defense against pleasure and aliveness.

Randy Goldberg trained in Rebirthing with Sandra Ray in Paris, France and Holotropic breath work in Chapel Hill, NC. 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 202-380-6850 www.randygoldberg.org

This entry was posted on July 13, 2011 at 4:32 PM and has received 1118 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.

 Michael/Michelle here:
Summer solstice is nearly here, and many people will celebrate with 
different rituals. So now is the perfect time to learn about creating 
your rituals. I have found that a ritual together with sacred space can 
lead to deep inner transformation and give meaning and closure to 
otherwise upsetting events. Or help create greater meaning to happy ones!

I am currently in New Mexico for the Kundalini Yoga Summer Solstice 
festival (http://www.3ho.org/) with about 2000 other yogis. I spent the
day before the festival at Ojo Caliente hot springs - there is something 
about hot mineral springs, and water in general, that I find very 
relaxing. After an hour of soaking in the waters I found my mind 
emptying and my body relaxing (hmm could it be that a full mind tends to 
cause a tense body?). I have read that rebirthers use each of the four 
elements for rejuvenation and I can definitely say that water is good! 
(Air or breath is used a lot in yoga and works well too. Fire gazing is 
hypnotic and relaxing too. As for Earth, well being in the mountains of 
Peru was very connecting to spirit for me!). For me it is good to take 
time for myself and not overdo things like I used to. When I traveled on 
Monday I worked for 2 hours on email, had a relaxing lunch, followed by 
a massage and then took my time packing so I was not rushed driving to 
airport. At one point I reminded myself not to feel nervous and did some 
releasing on an old pattern I had of stressing out before travel.

I have seen a lot of changes in myself in last few weeks - I think with 
the 3 eclipses this month (6/1, 6/15, 7/1) plus the solstice there is a 
lot of energy for change in the air. I also experienced some back ache 
which I have done lots of healing on. For me it was nt just an immediate 
physical issue but an opportunity for me to learn better how to connect 
to the Earth and strength my lower chakras. And to notice a lot of 
tension that I had been holding in my legs and hips which were pulling 
on my back muscles. Tension that I had had for years! Thank you spirit 
for bringing me the back pain so I could work on these issues and 
transform them :-)

love
M/M

This entry was posted on June 20, 2011 at 9:47 PM and has received 908 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.

Sometimes the days just seem to drift by without so much meaning. That is a clue to me that it is time to go deeper into my life. I have found many practices help me do this - noticing my thoughts, senses, what I eat, meditation, gratitude. I am interested in what works for you? So this week's Sandbox on Living more deeply and some practical steps for doing so is a good place to share what works for you.

Here in Peru I am in MiraFlores neighborhood of Lima. I didn't realize that Lima was so large (9 million people) - larger than Baltimore-Washington corridor I think. And having been built in the coastal desert of Peru it hardly ever rains here. However for 8 months of the year there is a high "fog" that covers the sun all day. I find it a bit depressing compared to the sunny days of Cusco! I don't know if it is the weather, the low altitude or the size of the city but people here seem less friendly than Cusco, less likely to smile on the street. The street where I am staying is also noisy with lots of buses and cars honking their horns. Perhaps that is something to do with the fact that many intersections don't have traffic lights or stop signs but are a free for all! One good idea I have seen here is a countdown on the traffic lights - similar to the pedestrian green/walk countdown there is in DC. But here it also counts down the time left on red. And it is on the car traffic lights lanes too. Makes it easier for the cars rushing to beat a coming red light to know exactly how many seconds are left, or for when to hit the gas when the light is about the turn green!!

I went for a walk by the Pacific ocean yesterday. The beach is mostly pebbles rather than sand and I still found the sea air and the sound of the waves to be nice. Speaking of wave they are big! 1-2 meters at the place where I was and I read another beach where they have 5m waves!! The surfers in wet suits were bobbing like seals in the waves and every now and again caught a breaker for a fast ride to shore. After watching all that action I wanted to relax. I found a nice massage place for S:/ 30 per hour ($11 USD) which was staffed entirely by blind masseurs - I take it that Peruvians don't like to be seen naked while being massaged! While I don't mind be seen naked I have to say that my blind masseur was very good and manage to find all my limbs by sense of touch alone. :-)

This entry was posted on June 11, 2011 at 3:12 PM and has received 1622 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.

This Wednesday Sandbox gathering we learn how to engage in deep, dogma-free spirituality with Dr. Anatole Ruslanov. Why do we crave DEPTH that seems inherently missing in modern culture? Join a much needed conversation where we shall touch upon the following questions:

• What are the true goals of all spiritual practices?
• What are your goals in life?
• Who are you down deep the well of your soul?
• Why would you be doing anything but jumping into this deep well now?
• It is time to see what YOU can become!

Spirituality, or knowing the real you, is a birthright of all living beings -- because it is built in: we cannot be other than ourselves. Humanity, however, is incredibly good and efficient at being distracted away from happiness and satisfaction by culture, social mores, insecurity, etc. Thus, we humans need a way to our very own inner being, the source of all happiness and satisfaction.

You can find the way yourself. It is not that difficult in theory because it is not like you can run away from being you. In practice, following a system that is proven to work is a much better idea -- an efficient and effective way. It is similar to studying in college vs. by yourself -- you benefit by the system, by people more experienced than you, and your peers are there as well, to make the journey together a fun group affair. Doing it on your own is an admirable but more work in practice.

Dr. Anatole Ruslanov is the founder of Modern Seers, an international organization providing profound impetus towards culturally-neutral spiritual practices that are truly effective in culminating in an authentic, dogma-free spirituality. Dr. Anatole is currently a professor of computer science at SUNY Fredonia. He has recently returned from a 10-month tour of South Asia , including teaching a semester in Bhutan .

Dr. Anatole Ruslanov is a naturally gifted mystic and a life coach, mentor, healer, and teacher.

He was formally ordained in Varanasi, India as a tantric monastic after completing full monastic training. He is a Lineage Holder of Advaita Shaiva Tantra Yoga Tradition and an initiate of the ancient tantric Avadhuta Order. He has also had a substantial training in Zen and Vajrayana Buddhist traditions, Native American Toltec traditions, and Russian Orthodox Christian mystical spiritualities. Dr. Anatole has been practicing tantra yoga meditation for 36 years and teaching for 27 years.

Dr. Anatole founded Modern Seers Inc. (formerly Abhidhyan Yoga Institute) in 1991 and is the originator of Abhidhya'na Yoga (macromeditation), Abhidhya'na Insight Meditation, Abhidhya'na Yoga Philosophy, and Abhidhya'na Yoga Community.

Anatole has a baccalaureate degree in mathematics and a doctorate in computer science. He is currently employed as an Assistant Professor of Computer Science at the Department of Computer and Information Sciences at State University of New York at Fredonia.

Dr. Anatole is passionate about going deeper and taking you deeper!

Dr. Anatole’s involvements and personal interests include:

•     A no-nonsense approach to spirituality that embraces our complete humanity;
•     Life and transformation coaching;
•     Spirituality divested of religious dogma;
•     Vajra meditation teaching and teacher training;
•     Natural, organic food and living foods;
•     Energy-efficient, ecologically-sound community living;
•     Non-dual spirituality and spiritual practices;
•     Practice of science and rigorous inquiry as a spiritual path.

More info at http://www.modernseers.org/

This entry was posted on June 11, 2011 at 3:07 PM and has received 908 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.