Greg Roberts Flow Like Water

A Manifesto For LIFE

2011-12-19T17:10:00.003-05:00

I am aware that Life is an Adventure that I, as God, have crafted for myself, for my own personal enjoyment and growth.

I am aware that life is a jigsaw puzzle, and that Ideas are the Keys to Connection.

I am aware that personal relationships are the physical embodiment of these Keys.

I am aware that it is ALWAYS better to say too much than too little.

I am aware that Dance is one of the best experiences available to Humans on this Planet Earth.

I live my Life by Opening... the experiences, thoughts, and actions that bring schpings* to my spine, those tingling electrical signals that run from the base of your spine to your cerebral cortex and back again... THOSE are the signals of the Universe, of Growth and Love and Life.

I love every single person on this planet. I commit myself to seeing the best in every person, place, and thing, and both honoring and demanding that those qualities surface in that individual, location, or item.

I realise that, by personal choice, life has a VERY WIDE dynamic range, from agony to ecstasy, from joy to sorrow, from death to Life. I was placed on this planet, into this Universe, to surf those waves, and I am uniquely capable of riding this experience to its joyful and wonderful and AWESOME conclusion.

I appreciate the deep fractal metaphors of Life, and also am highly aware that while metaphors are to be appreciated, being alive HERE and NOW is truly the greatest gift ever.

I will accumulate wealth simply as part of the Game I choose to play. I will honor the material wealth when it comes my way, give generously to others as I can, and be content with what I have at all times.

I will honor Play and Fun as two of my highest values. I respect that this universe is formed as the direct manifestation of the play between Shiva and Shakti, and that our highest forms are realized when we directly embody those archetypes, when we laugh, dance, sing, make love, incite laughter, create smiles in ourselves and others.

I love life.

I love YOU.

Together, let's consciously initiate the Millennium of Divine Play.

* THANK YOU ROSIE for gifting me with this Word. <3

The Social Net... work.

2011-11-08T03:25:00.002-05:00

Watched this tonight for the second time after an odd dream about driving around the Valley with Zuck... and cleaning up the debris from a hurricane.

Thoughts:

[IN THE MOVIE] Zuck repeatedly says: "we don't know what this is yet... we've got to feed it and fuel it and build it to find out..." That, indeed, is the essence of a start-up. The longer you can fuel it with pure passion, the longer you can do it with all nighters and near-deaths and reckless abandon, the better vision you will have. Yes, commercial realities set in. Founders have to pay their rent. And then they have a choice. Sell, hire a sales team, or close some investment rounds.

I do enjoy the paralegal's advice to Zuck on doing a settlement with Severin: "In the scheme of things, this is nothing but a speeding ticket."

Because, really... who is winning now?

[GOOD QUESTION :]

and now for something completely...

2011-10-17T13:16:00.003-04:00

Skyrails visualization engine

professional.

As the twists and turns of life would have it, my current free agent work centers around the area of corporate espionage... using completely public data in novel and surprising ways.

Basically, I'm focusing on running deep semantic and social graph analysis on key decision makers and their influencers for multi-billion dollar contracts. I achieved a relative degree of fame in the mid 90s when I declared on my blog that 'privacy is dead'. Truly, I never quite foresaw the social media revolution.

The best current embodiment of my work is Klout, which I encourage you to peruse. Using a members twitter handle as a key, it enables users to connect *all* their social profiles, and then derive conclusions from how many connections they have, and with whom, and how frequently those connections connect, across all the various sites, from LinkedIn to FaceBook to Flickr to FourSquare.

It then boils all that data into a single number, a person's social Klout score.

Clever.

PS - the fun part of what I'm doing is the data visualization of the social graph. LinkedIn has made a decent first attempt, check it out:

Chapter 51: Men in Black...

2011-09-17T21:23:00.002-04:00

...Rock City.

Not many things turn my head in Black Rock City these days. After 12 years of experiencing and participating in the annual techno-rave-art festival-in-the-desert that is Burning Man, I've seen quite a few tricks and tropes. Nonetheless, on this day, I did a double take, then triple take, as I spied six individuals in dark black suits, with shiny shoes, in technically perfect formation just outside the social mecca known as Center Camp.

Special Agents in formation @Center Camp, Thurs 13:42 PST GMT-8

I inspected them more closely. Each had the tell-tale white coil hanging from their ear, and each had the classic "totally detached and completely aware" look on their face. As I appreciated their theatre, my mind began to race. Inspired, I walked right up to one of them, a woman, and just as with the Buckingham Palace guards, true to form, she didn't even flinch as I deliberately crossed the boundary of comfortable personal space.

And once that feat was completed, I rapidly leapt to the, as it turns out, near fatal assumption that these were merely a bunch of mischievous burners, putting on some decently planned impromptu theatre. Just then, the center of all their attention was revealed to me: the payload. While six agents stood in perfect geometric formation, a seventh walked purposefully and rapidly precisely along the tight security lane they were creating. And, most importantly... that seventh agent was carrying... a briefcase.

Oh, the cleverness of these Burners! Their theatre was perfect! Respect welled in my heart. And I thought, what higher honor could I give them then to add some spice to their performance?... in the natural form of spontaneous interactivity? The fact that they were real secret agents, actually transporting a highly secret and valuable payload across town in broad daylight, didn't even enter into my realm of possibility.

So, as per my impulsive nature of the Now, without further thought, I accelerated into a full-on sprint, and leapt into the fray. Luck was actually on my side; simultaneously, a wild hippie had thoughts along the same lines as mine, and made contact a full second ahead of me. I watched in shock as he was slammed into the ground with violent force and military precision. I had seen this behavior before only once in my life: as a reporter documenting policemen beating peaceful protestors in the streets of Greenwich Village some ten years ago.

But the incident only served to encourage me, as I performed some real-time calculations mid-sprint, and figured that the hippie's failure might gain me a valuable window of distraction. The tall agent with the briefcase stood off to the side, while three agents held the hippie firmly spread eagle on the ground. I leapt in fast, grabbing at the briefcase handle. The resistance was shocking — the briefcase was near immobile; the agent had a grip of steel, his body rock solid like a good acro base. What happened next took me completely off guard.

The agent whipped his head around to face me as he pulled hard on the briefcase, and asked with a mean sneer: "You wanna get BEAT?!?" My jaw dropped at the implied malice of the question, as I continued to tug playfully on the briefcase. And as I stood semi-stunned processing his query, he reared back without hesitation and planted a full-on Chuck Norris kick into my upper ribcage, sending my body completely airborne... with both a stab of searing pain to my ribcage and a massive surge of adrenalin to my brain and heart.

A brief staredown followed, where I foolishly considered either going for the briefcase again or counter-attacking, simultaneously sizing him up: at around 6'4", 220, I quickly came to reality about the rib-cracking force of the kick and the agent's clear resolution, theatrical or not, to protect his payload at all costs.

Special Playa Agents leap into action. Payload: secure

I decided that laughter was the best route, and chuckled, haughtily thanking the agents for their uncompromising participation, then slowly limped back to my girlfriend, who had been diligently photographing the whole shenanigan.

I was in complete shock. It may have been theatre, but my god... it was dead serious theatre. Krista commented with clarity: "Wow, this really is a place where adults can live out any fantasy they want. And that makes this city... a Very. Dangerous. Place."

I continued to roll around in my head the possibility that they were actors, the possibilty that they were actual secret agents, and the particulars of what had just occured, all while moving slowly and carefully as needles of pain and reality shot through my freshly damaged ribcage.

EPILOGUE

Fast forward 96 hours. We're in the car, waiting in the interminable line for Exodus with Melissa and Richard. Melissa begins to tell a very surprising story. In her own words:

"...so during one of my adventures, I walk up to this middle-aged man wearing a suit, sitting in Center Camp with a black briefcase on his lap. Curious, I enter into a conversation with him. As we chat, he mentions that he is the "Banker of Black Rock City." When I ask him what that means, he simply gestures for me to reach into the briefcase, and instructs me to pull out whatever I find. So I reach in, and feel a tight stack of paper... I then proceed to peel one off the top. When I bring my hand out, I look, and to all appearances it looks to be a fresh, crispy $100 bill, with the iconic Burning Man icon stamped upon it. At first I think its a prank, but then I sense that it has that telltale crispy currency texture and weight, and it looks really real... I look around, and everywhere around me there are people, each holding various amounts of cash... and smiling"

Back in the car, hearing this, I call her bluff, and ask to see the bill. She digs in her pack for a moment, and sure enough, hands me a bona-fide USA Ben Franklin $100 bill.

POSTSCRIPT

On the airplane home, I am casually reading the Events Guide. I stumble upon this passage: "At an as yet undisclosed location, we will present a black briefcase containing $39,000 in cold hard U$ cash, distributed amongst 250 sealed envelopes each containing a random amount. The envelopes will be gifted on a first-come-first-serve basis to all participants, with the intention of battling the Myth of Capitalism." At first I think, oh, that's a good playa prank. Hahahaha. Let the suckers come. And then I remember the agents... and then I remember the bill...

And suddenly, all the threads converge,
and I will state for the record:

Where ever you are in the world — at a theatre, or in New York City, or at Black Rock City — if you see highly trained Secret Agents moving in tight formation and protecting a payload, think twice before attempting to attack them.

And for those of you who would never think of attempting such acts in the first place:

Enjoy the Show.

That is all.

dream car

2011-08-26T10:49:00.000-04:00

AcroYoga 2011

2011-08-19T23:19:00.000-04:00

Those wild kids in New York... :)

Back to Basics

2011-08-17T11:13:00.000-04:00

whilst traveling along the great Amazon...

We depart from the tiny village and sail a bit further up river. In the afternoon, we come across a boy in a tiny canoe, casting his net. As we pass close by, he greets us so I give Braulio a sign to cut the engine.

The youth comes up to us in his canoe and offers us his fish; which we accept gratefully. Braulio makes a remark in the native Quechuan tongue about our desire to find lodging. The youth nods, without caring how many we are.

In his house, there are an older sister, and two younger brothers. His parents are traveling 'down river,' as the adolescent explains. The house, built completely out of natural materials found in the region and elevated on pilings to protect it from flooding, is very close to the river. It only consists of one big room and a kitchen; there are no bedrooms or living room, much less a dining room. Some of the walls are only waist-high. To sleep, they hang their hammocks, which are then taken down in the morning. There are no decorations; they only possess the bare essentials.

On the floor of the kitchen, there is a box filled with soil, in which they build a fire and hanging over it from the ceiling there is meat and fish being smoked. My wife brings in rice to share, which we eat along with the fish. Dinner is delicious, served on squash skins. We eat sitting on our haunches. The locals use only their hands. If they had silverware, they'd need a plate; if they had plates, they'd need a table; if they had a table, they'd need chairs; if they had all of this, they'd need a dining room, but just as we are, in the tiny kitchen, we feel very well and very close.

Braulio tells us there is no problem with staying to sleep, everyone does it because everyone has to travel and rest in the homes they find along the way. So we ask him, having come from families of farmers ourselves, if they are the owners of the land. He tells us: "The people construct their houses wherever they like and when they want. When the land doesn't produce anymore, they search for another place."

"And what happens with the abandoned house?"

"It quickly decays and becomes part of the soil, and in a few years, is completely consumed by the jungle again."

"But whose land is it where you build?"

"The land doesn't belong to you, you belong to it. From it you came and to it you will go. Everything that you see in your body is a loan from the land and one day you'll return it back to it. The land existed long before you were born, and long after you are gone, it will continue to exist. God gives you the Beauty of the land and the miracle of life to enjoy, not for you to take possession of it, nor to have a paper that says you own it," he pauses with a little smile on his face, "the land laughs at this paper."

Excerpt from Spark your Dream
by Candelaria & Herman Zapp, 2007
argentinaalaska.com

Personal Inventory

2011-04-25T16:16:00.007-04:00

I will be fully nomadic in 24 hours
I will have all my worldly possessions in my truck.
I have reduced; transformed as much as possible from physical to digital.

Here's what remains:

TOYS:
- one set UV dayglo practice poi (feed the artists)
- one set monkeyball fire poi (trick concepts)
- one LED ultrapoi (flowtoys)
- 2 custom made hula hoops
- hand made long bow
- 5 custom made arrows
- forged atlantean broadsword
- hand carved walking staff
- balance stick
- home-made paralettes (how-to)
- basketball
- soccer ball
- baseball & mitts
- 6 lb medicine ball

MUSIC:
- african djembe
- Martin Backpacker acoustic guitar
- M-Audio Axiom Pro 25 MIDI controller
- Vestax iSpin MIDI turntables
- M-Audio Studiophile AV40 powered speaker system
- speaker stands
- ION iPA3 40 watt portable BlockRocker
- Sony MDR-V700 DJ Headphones

POCKETS:
- iPhone 3GS
- car key
- Georgia State ID
- ATM card
- large roll of $100 bills
- US Passport with 10 year Indian VISA
- HASP secure dongle
- 8GB USB key with critical data

TECHNOLOGY:
- MacBook Pro 15" laptop
- Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX3 digicam
- power supply
- iPod nano - green 8GB
- Apple wireless keyboard
- Apple Magic Mouse
- Rain Design laptop stand
- Hanns-G HSG2041 21" LED flatscreen, power cable, DVI cable
- one live backup HD - 500GB
- two mirrored archive HDs - 1TB each

TRANSPORT:
- 2001 Chevy Suburban 4WD - LTE
- Trek 1000 race bike
- Gary Fischer Tassajara Mountain bike - blue
- tire gauge
- micro bike pump
- spare bike tube

CAMPING:
- REI Hobitat Tent
- custom RayWay tarp
- Gregory Z55 backpack
- Osprey Raptor 10 daypack
- MSR PocketRocket Stove
- 2 fuel canisters
- MSR pot, pan, lid
- bic lighter
- LED flashlight
- headlamp

TOILETRIES:
- toothbrush & toothpaste
- razor & shaving cream
- Q-tips
- nail clippers
- tortoise shell comb

BOOKS, CDs, DVDs
- mostly converted to iPad, iBooks, iTunes :)

DIARIES

CLOTHES
- Armani jacket
- Lululemon pants

SHOES
- crocs slippers
- Onutsuka Tiger - Tai Chi shoes
- Puma Dallas - blue & gold sneaks
- Nike LunarFly - running shoes

TOOLS
- Ryobi power drill / driver
- SkilSaw
- jigsaw
- two tool bags with manual tools

FILES
- calendar
- paper
- active projects
- open bills
- black rocket labs
- panyoga
- taxes
- legal

KITCHEN
- toaster
- butcher block cutting board
- supersharp 12" serrated knife
- spatula
- 13" nonstick pan
- Conitgo AutoSeal coffee mug
- Dansk Nordic flatware
- measuring cups
- measuring spoons
- teapot
- french press coffee maker

MAPS:
- lighted globe - 13" Columbus - National Geographic
- Scholastic globe - 16" Executive - Weber Costello
- Peterson projection world map poster
- Michelin maps - India, Africa
- USGS quads - Arches, Canyonlands, Smokey Mountains, Gerlach
- Appalachian Trail map, marked

ART:
- Bardo Being - Alex Grey, 2001 - 36" signed & framed print
- Forest - Th Dahl, 1939, original oil painting
- Lydia nude - G Roberts, 1986, original pencil drwaing
- Shiva/ Shakti - India - 16" solid bronze statue
- Happy Buddha - Dubai - 5" cold cast statue
- divine feminine - Fraebel, 2005 - hand-blown art glass
- Iron Man #1
- Captain America #100

OK, I'm starting to get it now...

2011-04-04T10:59:00.000-04:00

My first thought of fasting, in my 20s, was Gandhi

My second thought of fasting, in my 30s, was a quick and easy way to lose weight and avoid cooking

My third thought of fasting, a few days ago, was as a little ritual to meditate on, and to kickstart myself into a new dietary, nutritional, and healthy realm.

But through all those years, I'd always thought of it as a "pause for the psyche, and an accelerant for the body." What I never even considered was the cleansing aspect, which of course, the Master Cleanse makes readily clear (no pun intended).

My previous fasts had been simply water fasts. Pure and simple. Stop eating, and drink water. That's it.

This master cleanse is more like, well, an engine flush. In addition to the cessation of eating, you're drinking a liter of heavy saltwater every morning. 'Drinking' is a bit of a misnomer. What you're really doing is flushing your entire digestive system, from espohagus to stomach to intestine to colon, with heavy water. Because that water shoots through the entire system in less than an hour. And you get to see for yourself the proof of what's been hiding in there, kind of like the oil change dude showing you your old oil filter. And, even to me, its a surprise.

I'm hoping that, and wondering if, I'll be flushing clear by day 8. Here's to optimism! :)

better quality food

2011-04-03T20:22:00.000-04:00

Day Two of the Master Cleanse.

Deep cravings for Sugar.
Specifically, cold beer and raw chocolate chip cookie dough.
went to whole foods this morning to upgrade
my gourmet ingredients to top of the line organic ingredients.

I truly love every visit to Whole Foods my entire life.
Complete positivity. Lovely people, delicious food.

And it got me thinking,
One of the intentions for this fast is to radically improve the quality of my food intake. Part of that can begin simply by going to Whole Foods and the Farmer's Market more often. Quality ingredients = quality intake. Fresh living ingredients = fresh living Me. :)

So now I'm thinking about conversions.
For instance,
instead of refrigerated cookie dough, I could make some super high end raw / vegan chocolate chip cookies, using only the finest ingredients. YUM! And instead of a can of Miller Lite, I could either buy a nice craft beer, or even (OMG) attempt to brew my own.

So part of what I'm going to do here is really commit to and plan some AWESOME meals for the other side of this fast.

In salivation we Trust,
:) me

My Statement of Intent

2011-04-02T23:37:00.001-04:00

I am starting a Master Cleanse today.
And its prompted me to really begin to think.
I am on the edge of a cliff of the unknown
And I've been here before, but never so clearly.
This time, its both consciously and intentionally.

Here's a little aside: a neat dream I recently experienced.

The scene was an ancient castle in England.
The occasion was Madonna's 50th birthday.
It was a very large circular room, perhaps 6 stories high.
All the guests occupied a balcony near the top.
We were all wearing these strange bubble suits which they'd instructed us to wear as we entered.
The entire room was filled with smoke, so that we couldn't see the floor below.
All eyes looked up, as somehow we expected Madonna to appear in the dome above, to entertain us.
Waiting, waiting, waiting...
No Madonna.
Finally, one of the guests simply leapt into the abyss...

And guess what?
There was in fact a massive trampoline below, hidden by the smoke.
The guest bounced up in glee, protected by their padded suit.
Soon another, then another, leapt into the void.
In mere moments, there were hundreds of revellers, bouncing and bounding and colliding in the air, laughing and flying gleefully.
Madonna never did show up.
But the party had begun, and the message was clear:

YOU are the entertainment.
YOU are the guests, and
YOU are the participant.

Participate in your own life. Stop trying to find others to entertain you. BE the entertainment. BE the star. :)

So where was I?
Oh yes, intention.
Well, at this point, I think I'll save that for the next post. :)

of food and choice

2011-04-02T11:32:00.000-04:00

Food is, in a traditional sense, nutrients which we ingest through our mouths, break down in our digestive tracks, and use for building new cells and muscles and tissues. It is, quite literally, the stuff we are made of.

Today is the first day of my master cleanse, which has me here, eating a bowl of Lucky Charms, and considering the nature of foods of all types. Consider:

Our environment is food for our eyes.
The music we listen to is food for our ears.
The books, movies, blogs and online videos we choose to consume are food for our brains.
The time we spend with people we love with is food for our hearts.

Similarly, the words we write and speak, and the stories we create, are the psychic food that others consume.

This brings a heightened awareness to:
- what I choose to place in my body
- what the music I listen to is really saying to me
- where I choose to be
- who I choose to surround myself with

These same elements that we consume, determine what we are able to give to others. This is my meditation for these 10 days.

CLEAN

2011-04-01T23:15:00.000-04:00

be clean, get clean, clean the dishes, clean the clothes, clean the bedsheets,
clean the body, clean the mind
and begin a...
MASTER CLEANSE!!!!
K gave me the awesome 411 on this one, including:
Day One: Organic fresh squeezed orange juice during day
Evening: Cleansing Tea

Daily:
- Grade B Organic Maple Syrup (cup)
- organic lemon juice (cup)
- Cayenne pepper (pinch)
- high quality water (to taste)

for travel, you can pre-mix the syrup and lemon juice.
Here.
We.
Go.

DANCE

2011-03-31T23:07:00.001-04:00

today dance was my mantra. and I still had a lot to do, so Dance influenced HOW i went about doing it. great loving dances, conversational dances, and I even danced my way into a wondrously fun dinner with K. just keep those feet moving. and a quote:

"In many shamanic societies, if you came to a medicine person complaining of being disheartened, dispirited, or depressed, they would ask one of four questions. When did you stop dancing? When did you stop singing? When did you stop being enchanted by stories? When did you stop finding comfort in the sweet territory of silence?"

— Gabrielle Roth

WORK

2011-03-30T23:05:00.003-04:00

work was my mantra today. and work I did. crunched out a lot of things for discovery science center. too many days not working. work is important. remember the lesson of the trail: 8 solid hours a day, gets you where you are going. wake up at sunrise, work honest, have a social lunch, work some more, find a good place to bed down, and relax.

perfect aim vs. perfect shots

2011-01-21T14:45:00.000-05:00

more archery practice today.
less arrows, more focus.

first shot of the day, mantra: "it's all heart"
[note: my bullseye is painted as a heart]

arrow hits the bullseye, and in one of those freak physics moments, hits so hard that it bounces right off, flying 8+ feet back towards me!
perfect aim, wrong mantra?

shocked, i adjust my mantra: "i want everything"

arrow penetrates deeply, right on edge of bullseye.
a mild smile of satisfaction comes across my face.

final arrow of the day, mantra: "show me some power"

arrow flies, perfect feather spiral, hits straight into center of bullseye, with such force that it goes clean out the back of the target and 30' into the grass. YES.
Perfect Shot.

Forward.

splits: the agony and the thrill

2011-01-20T12:48:00.002-05:00

As I push, my inner thighs scream. Tendons approach the edge, straining to the limit of their stretch. My breathing gets deep, really deep. My heels hurt, as 90% of my weight rests atop them. And I am closer. Closer. Almost... there.

"There" is a goal I've had for years: the full wide splits. And now as I approach this practice more seriously than ever before, it gets into deep meditation. All I can think about when I practice the splits is my relationships. And splits, duh: its about breaking up. And at the same time, it is some kind of bridge, isn't it? extending the heels wider than any other part of the body can reach? 6 feet, 7 feet? With full strength!??!!

As my width has expanded, I've been practicing muscle tensioning in that extreme position. Tightening the thighs and glutes while gravity does the rest. I think it helps. And then there's the aftermath: crying, panting, headrush... and some strange behavior that I've never needed before, but is totally instinctual post-splits:

I simply cry, lean, and embrace the wall, my cheek in bliss against the cold drywall. And my mind empties... and

that.
is.
all.

limits

2011-01-06T23:55:00.004-05:00


Ferrari 599 vs. Chevy ZR1... guess who wins?

i am coming to the conclusion that i am pushing too hard on my aging body...
i've been pushing it pretty hard to start the year right,
and unfortunately i am experiencing a new kind of soreness.
its not the typical "my muscles feel sore 'cause they've been tested in a new way"
its more "my joints feel sore cause they've been excessively strained"

i think i may use this year to de-tune back from my natural form of ferrari (superfast and light, always starts in the lead, but sometimes the engine catches fire and the car explodes) to that of a chevy (powerful and reliable, if a little bit sluggish and heavy, always finishes the race)

how about you?

The Tribes of Man

2010-12-28T23:09:00.000-05:00

I have been having a wild array of conversations with humans recently. It seems that purple hair and fur coats really open people up! Awesome!

Tonight I went to the corner mart to buy some beer. Its cold outside, so I wore my fur coat (the best $12 investment *ever*, thrift store c.2003) and my handmade woven hat, a bright orange affair with ponytails. The clerk looks me up and down, smiles, and asks "so, is that some kind of traditional costume you are wearing?" I was fascinated by this take on it, and briefly considered saying "Yes, its Burner."... but demurred, and said "it keeps me warm!" He had a thick accent so I asked him where he was from. "Ghana," he replied. I ventured a guess and said "East coast?," and he kindly corrected me, saying "west coast of africa." then added "In my country people wear traditional coats like that, they are usually made of lion or tiger skin. When they hunt the animal, they preserve the skins and make them into clothing." I was both fascinated at this modern tribal tale and honored that he thought that my jacket might have a similar origin. Indeed, I had just been practicing archery, honing my skills for the day when I will hunt my own food and craft my own clothing, and told him as much. He smiled broadly. A connection had been made. A bridge between cultures and eons. Cool.

Metta: the Art of Loving Touch

2010-09-25T18:29:00.000-04:00

"If you want others to be happy, practice compassion.
If you want to be happy, practice compassion."
— H.H. the Dalai Lama

I touch a lot of people. With my hands. With my arms. With my heart. With guidance. With massage. With hugs.

And sometimes, there is this conversation that comes up. And it all revolves around the nature of touch. The issue at hand is, when the touch is given, is it coming from a place of sexual desire, or from a place of heartfelt compassion? With touch there is usually a giver and a receiver. The giver is the initiator of the touch. In a trusting situation, if the giver has sexual intention, and the receiver does not, then it becomes uncomfortable for both. So as givers of touch, it is of prime importance to be highly sensitive to and aware of the subtleties of context, energy, and intention... and in most all situations, to concentrate on a deeply compassionate, non-sexualized form of touch.

There is a word for this form in traditional Buddhism. It is called "metta." I first learned about metta in Thai massage classes. And it is how I open almost all my partner and flying yoga classes. At its core it is really simple.

Sexual touch originates from the second chakra, from our genitalia, up our spine, down our arms, and into the receiver. It is orange. It is laced with aggression, even when it is gentle. It comes from the perspective of a lover. It wants connection. It has desire. It asks something from the receiver.

Compassionate touch originates from the heart chakra, from our heart centers, straight out our arms, through our palms, and into the receiver. It is green. It can be feather light, or amazingly strong and deep. Its core quality is that of listening. Metta is an unconditional gift.. it is solely concerned about the well-being of the receiver, and asks nothing in return. It strives to give the receiver exactly the energy he/she needs in that very moment. It is closest to the perspective of a loving parent. It wants healing. It has sensitivity. It is a true gift.

Most people only have experience of touch as: handshakes, hugs, lovemaking, and perhaps fighting. To help people get out of these default modes, and into real metta, I often lead my classes through a simple visualization, which I will share with you here.

Everyone sit in a circle, sitting Indian style, knees touching. Everyone, close your eyes. Extend your arms, and place your hands gently yet firmly on the backs of the people next to you, right atop where their heart is. *Feel* their body. Focus your awareness on the point of contact. Listen. Sensitize yourself to the gentle rise and fall of their spine as they breath deeply, in and out. See if everyone can synchronize the breath... deep breath in... deep breath out... Now, focus your attention on your own breathing. Breath in, and feel the prana, the energy of the universe, filling your lungs. Breath out, and release all your fears and doubts. Continue breathing... slowly... and deeply. Now focus on your heart chakra. Feel the glowing green energy that is pure love... feel it growing and increasing with every breath, with every heartbeat. Visualize that green, glowing, compassionate heart energy flowing, flowing out from your heart, through your shoulders, along your arms, into your hands, through your palms, and into your partner. Listen. Feel what they need. Know intuitively that you have a gift of healing inside you. Transmit that energetic gift, that warm, loving compassion, that heart-felt, heart-forward touch. breath deep. feel. listen. breath. listen. glow... and let go.

So go forth and touch, hug, massage, dance, cuddle... and when you are in a safe container, or a group, or a class, focus on your heart, listen to your partner, and make good metta. :)

Greg Roberts
www.gregroberts.com

metta comes from an unending source of energy... use it with abundance and joy :)

the great escape

2010-09-11T03:22:00.005-04:00

LIVE FROM BURNING MAN // BLACK ROCK CITY, NEVADA, USA

On Saturday, once again, I knew I had to run... and this time a long one. So I pulled on my hot pink skirt, strapped on the iPod and headed out into the city. This was my first real tour of the backroads, and it was quite pleasant... so much going on so early in the morning. Many gift breakfasts, coffees, and even a free water camp, which I happily indulged in. I quickly reached the edge of the city, and headed out onto the open playa. I traced a fairly wide road, and to my shock and surprise, saw a pirate flag about a mile out from town, with about twenty to thrity people dancing and laughing. I made the mild detour, and was immediately greeted by a gracious woman who said "hail to the athlete burner! can we offer you a drink... hmmm, you'd probably prefer cool water, wouldn't you?" The male bartender scowled a bit at this suggestion, but I happily accepted, and she offered me a large water bottle which I shamelessly chugged. Its well known in Black Rock City that you can drink all the beer, wine, and whiskey you want for free, but you'd sure as hell BYOW(ater). I was completely honored to be offered wondrous water from a bar, without even asking. Such is the reward for runners!

Livin on the edge..

I continued from there and made a solid line for the fabled perimeter, a perfectly pentagonal orange fence which ostensibly collects drift-trash from the city, but more in my mind serves as a psychological barrier between the dreamland of Black Rock City and the stark reality of the Real World. Approaching this fence, it immediately became clear what had to be done... I ran up to it at full speed, and with a burst of energy, pulled a complete hurdle over the 3' plastic. Suddenly, the world changed. The only thing in my vision, all 200 degrees of it, was crunchy bbone-white desert floor, purple mountain majesty on the distant horizon, and crystal sapphire blue sky. The only sound I could hear was the wind in my ears. It was as if I was the only human on earth, and it was easy to imagine that I was either or both 50,000 years in the past, present, or future. It was completely primal...

and then I saw the 4x4 rolling into my reality. I knew at once it was perimeter, and a brief mental panic struck me as I realised that a) I was without ticket, and b) I could have just as easily run in from Gerlach. The boys pulled up alongside me in their truck... I waved in a friendly innocent manner, and they said "Sir, could you please limit your run to within the boundaries of our city?" I nodded in humble acknowledgement, and made my way back to the fence, where I made another wondrous bunny-hop back into the dance/party/camp/drink/music/chaos of black rock.

A gracious gift of clean water from Pink Pussy Camp, an impromptu photo shoot, and a sprint through center camp later, I arrived breathless to our vehicle, where, to my delight, was Laurel, refueling her CamelBak. She was in deep meditation and I was in deep hyperventilation, so we soon parted ways, I dunked my head in the icewater cooler, and headed back to the camp for a brief chill.

One hour.
Two drinks.
Six miles.
SHAZAM!

training in the desert = good. :)

for more of my marathon training logs, visit:
http://acroyogi.blogspot.com

savasana rising

2010-02-18T11:19:00.000-05:00

the past two days, my private practice sessions have ended in savasanas of pure bliss, and those savasanas themselves, have ended in blissful visions of nature. My savasana normally consists of gentle music, feeling my body sinking lovingly into the mat (the floor is your reliable partner :), random thoughts and visions fleeting through my mind, slipping into a gentle trance of emptiness... seconds, minutes, or hours later, something happens, and my body's response is to draw in a deeeeeeeeeeep breath, followed by a loooooooooooong exhale, open my eyes, and see what the world has brought me for a present.

Yesterdays present was the sound of a thousand bird laughing. I rose slowly, and was amaze to see that my entire front yard was completely covered with sparrows. Excitedly and without thought, I ran out the door and into the yard, where suddenly all at once every bird there lifted off and squaked loudly. For a moment the entire sky was black with the silouhettes of birds in flight and the sounds of natural alarm. It was exquisite! I thanked the Goddess and smiled as I entered the rest of the day.

Today was a slightly shorter practice (45 minutes or so), yet my savasana was so perfect, right in a large pool of sun coming in the tall dining room window. Again slipped into a deep trance of void / emptiness / black... this time is was not sound, but rather touch, that awakened me. Still in deep relaxation, eyes closed, I gradually came aware of a moist, cool, rough surface on the tips of my fingers. Seconds later, I realised I was being licked. As I opened my eyes, the puppy licks moved up my forearm, to my inner elbow, then bicep. A little basset hound puppy was there! I had to laugh, and at that, she went for my ears.

These are the presents of savasana. Practice makes perfect!

of Avatar, Acro, and Archery

2010-01-03T22:02:00.000-05:00

I had the privelege of viewing Avatar (the Movie) in a 3D cinema this weekend with my children. From about 8 minutes in all the way through the end, my eyes were filled with tears of joy. Never before have I seen a vision so powerfully translated to the screen, in fact, it felt, seamlessly translated from the archetypal future memory of humanity directly into the brainstems of viewers.

In particular the entire vision of the Na'vi race was so so so so beautiful. When they leapt from the trees, when Nayeli leapt and shot an arrow from apogee, when they ran along the tree limbs, when they climbed the root rocks, when Sully mastered his dragon, when they flew... OMG the flying!!!!!

It felt as though these Na'vi skills were accessible to all of us, and I feel closer and closer to it every year. If there is ever an expression of the grace of archery, those two shots she took exemplify it. If there is ever an apt metaphor for taming a wild stallion and settling a wild beast into a true companion, the dragon taming scene was it.

I really struggle to find the words to describe my sheer joy in experiencing this movie, and the wonders that are the Na'vi life and Pandora.

The highest praise I can give it is this: it has expanded my vision of what is possible for myself as a human, and for my species, my planet, my children, and the future of imagination itself. I applaud James Cameron and the thousands of artists he collaborated with and directed to bring this vision to reality.

Onward!

Power of the Pyramid

2009-12-30T17:04:00.003-05:00

I didn't understand what was going on... the Goddess pose was simple enough, yet my body was shaking and vibrating like a car with a wheel out of balance... our local circus community has been getting more and more into multi-tier human pyramids, and this day I was fully engaged in the practice. In the next few moments we deconstructed the pyramid into its component parts, and by instructing my bases to tilt their pelvises by only a few degrees, all the shake was gone, and I was my rock-solid self again!

In the past I've strongly favored partner acroyoga practice over group pyramids, but this day, Christmas Eve in fact, I learned many many new things from my full participation in the pyramid construction gang :)

First, as a base, typically with the weight of 2 or more humans bearing atop me, it required really perfect form and bone stacking technique. I've always marvelled and taken some small joy in the fact that with acroyoga basing, pure strength can compensate for slight misalignments and imperfect technique. But as the loads increase (one person, two people, etc.), the required strength becomes excessive, and the only "solution" to these human puzzles becomes rock-solid, perfect alignment.

Additionally, when the mid-tier or fliers places their loads on the proper structural points (sacrum through to feet, shoulders through to hands), it absolutely re-inforces perfect form; its like having an awesome yoga teacher push and pull your body into the correct alignment.

Which brings me to the second realisation, which has been entering my practice more and more via acrobatics: the "active" nature of poses. Once a yogi has achieved a decent degree of flexibility and body awareness, most asanas can be held with a minimum of muscular exertion... now enter "tightness drills." Whereas previously I had achieved a "lazy headstand" with near perfect bone stacking and balance, now I was being asked to hold that rock solid while a partner pushed, pulled, and prodded my legs with significant force. This required a new practice, known to acrobats and gymnasts as "one piece."; i.e. making the body completely rigid so that any force exerted on it would move it as one might move a marble sculpture. Now, instead of simply stacking and hanging out, I am focusing on tightening every muscle in my body, from fingertips to shoulders to abdomen to thighs to toes. This is a whole nother form of asana practice; and it also is very much required in pyramid basing.

The final realisation I got was that of micro-alignment and communication. While doing a mid-level pyramid asana, I was in Goddess pose with one foot on the sacrum of each of two bases. By instructing the bases to alter their pelvis angles by only a few degrees, I was able to transform my pose from shakey wobbly to rock solid. Similarly, when Todd was performing a headstand atop my back, his instructions to widen my shoulder blades by about a centimeter made a massive improvement in his ability to achieve the inversion. These accurate anatomical communications between all levels of the pyramid allowed us to achieve some pretty spectacular structures.

Always learning, always growing.

Toxins 101

2009-12-03T09:02:00.000-05:00

"So, what are the benefits of getting a massage?" she asked. I reeled off a list, ending with "and drink lots of fluids afterwards to help flush out the toxins that are released." To which she responded: "what exactly do you mean, toxins?" I found myself struggling for an accurate medical answer, especially since I have a very holistic view of the term.

After many days considering the question, I present to you, Toxins 101:

When one is confronted with difficult emotional issues, coping behavior can include overeating, junk eating, drinking, drugging, or shopping. Each of these coping behaviours creates a form of toxin within our bodies. How, you ask? In detail:

You have an un-resolved issue that you are angry about.
Intstead of dealing with the issue, you consume toxins (food/drink/stuff).
The consumption behavior helps you to numb and ignore the real issue.
The toxin binds with the emotional issue.
The toxin and the related issue are converted to fat, which is deep storage energy for the body.
Through either vigorous massage or vigorous exercise, those deep fat/emotional stores can be broken down, re-entering the lymphatic system and bloodstream as toxins.
When they enter the bloodstream, the original stored issue is re-released into the body, often causing unexpected emotional outbursts (crying while running, for instance)
This, then, is the path of the toxin: imbibed, converted, stored, and released.

You might ask, "how does shopping create toxins?" To which I respond: As above, so below. Or via the Greeks: the macrocosm (the universe) mirrors the microcosm (the self). In otherwords, when you purchase/acquire un-needed excess and place it in your environment (clutter), your physical body responds in an equal manner (toxin). The same for junk food.

On a personal note, I've also recently re-committed myself to sobriety; this radical step is really gifting me some laser focus on how these issues manifest in my own body. Sobriety is forcing me to confront my feelings and to create action around them, even when the tasks are emotionally challenging. But just like exercise, it sure feels better on the other side! :)