Raw Basement Tapes Blog

2025-02-09T17:07:00.001-05:00

I spent a couple of months in China last fall. A few newbie observations and a video travelogue:

So many people! No wonder there’ve been waves of migration, resulting in Chinese people all over the world
Scale and speed of development is quite amazing. Where a few decades before there was farmland, now there are highrises
Very nearly a cashless society: every day business is done on smartphones, using apps like Didi and WeChat
Security is everywhere. I never could quite figure out why there were cops in the Metro, for example, seemingly with nothing to do
Big cities are clean! Much cleaner than places like Paris or Mexico
Communist state? Maybe, but I didn’t see it. What I saw where lots of people hustling, intent on making a buck (sorry, RMB)
Chinese national narrative begins with Mao. Visiting the CCCP museum in Shanghai for Chinese is like visiting Independence Mall for Americans
Underdeveloped country? Maybe, but what I saw didn’t look that way to me. I didn’t go to the countryside or any poor cities, but cities like Shanghai seem ultra-sophisticated, with high society districts in the West. Chinese high-speed trains seemed to me slicker than anything I’d seen anywhere. Here’s my travelogue:

Message of the Day: Long Wave, Short Wave

2024-07-19T15:38:00.001-04:00

green coloured trails of light

Today's message is called Long Wave/Short Wave and focuses on the realm of sound waves and their impact on our consciousness.

The Short Wave carries the everyday sounds that constantly bombard us, akin to the AM radio band – reaching far but often filled with static. These are the fleeting conversations, the news cycle, and the general noise of daily life.

The Long Wave resides on a higher frequency than the short wave, and often requires effort to access. This is the realm of the Sound Current, often experienced through practices like meditation, prayer, and chanting. Tuning into this long wave can bring profound benefits, including:

- Reduced stress and increased peace of mind: By shifting our focus from the constant chatter of the short wave, we can find inner calm and tranquility.
- Access to higher forms of knowledge: The long wave carries subtle information that transcends the mundane, offering insights into deeper truths and wisdom.

Breaking Free from the Short Wave: Like many, I often find myself caught in the short-term filter of information overload. However, moments of clarity break through occasionally, revealing the fleeting nature of my preoccupations. These glimpses inspire me to spend more time seeking the long wave and tune my inner ear to higher frequencies.

Your Journey to the Long Wave: Does this long form/short analogy resonate with your experience?

And if it does, what practices or activities help you connect with the long wave?

https://bit.ly/3WrRlKf

Acceptance

2024-07-12T13:31:00.001-04:00

Today's message focuses on acceptance, a concept that's easy to grasp but often difficult to put into practice. At its core, acceptance is about embracing whatever life throws our way, whether it's a personal flaw we dislike, an infuriating encounter with a stranger, or an unexpected compliment. It's about acknowledging reality as it is, without resistance.

However, our natural inclination isn't always to accept. We often deny or react defensively to what we encounter. We might tell ourselves we're not lazy, just unmotivated. We might lash out at a driver who's trying to pass us, nearly causing an accident. Or we might brush aside a compliment, dismissing it as insincere.

In essence, we deny what is.

Many of us struggle with self-acceptance. We might readily acknowledge some aspects of ourselves while stubbornly resisting others. We might intellectually understand that denying our flaws only gives them more power, but still find it difficult to embrace ourselves completely, warts and all.

Deepak Chopra, the renowned physician and lecturer, offers a helpful perspective on acceptance. He suggests that we begin by recognizing the inherent duality within us. Our inner being, burdened by karmic baggage, is a complex tapestry of opposing energies. It's a place where the saint and the sinner, the sacred and the profane, the divine and the diabolical coexist. Accepting this duality, embracing the full spectrum of our being, allows us to release the need to judge others.

This idea is beautifully illustrated by the allegory of the man and his shadow. Haunted by his shadow, the man tries to outrun it, but every step he takes only creates more shadow. He runs faster and faster, ultimately exhausting himself to death. He fails to realize that simply standing under a tree would have eliminated his shadow, or that stillness would have prevented it from growing.

The allegory highlights the futility of denying our shadows. We all cast shadows; it's an inevitable part of being alive. The real challenge lies in choosing how much power we give to those shadows. Can we stand firm and allow the light of acceptance to shine through?

Chopra's insights also reveal a connection between self-acceptance and our ability to accept others. The greatest gift we can offer another person is to accept them for who they are, without trying to change them. This can be especially challenging with those closest to us, but it's a gift worth striving for.

Today's message encourages us to cultivate a deeper sense of acceptance, both for ourselves and for others. In doing so, we're liable to find a profound sense of peace and inner harmony.

https://bit.ly/4cSWU9K

Sleep Medicine: the Practice of Yoga Nidra

2022-11-21T16:33:00.007-05:00

Restorative yoga practioner Jennifer Piercy explains the philosophy of yoga nidra, leads participants through a yoga nidra session, and answers questions about dreams, sleep and rest.

This is a recording of the 11/19/22 Sacred Inclusion Network Managing Dark Spaces exploration.

The yoga nidra practice starts about 16:14, goes for approximately a half-hour, and is followed by questions and answers.

Piercy’s sleep meditation tracks on the Insight Time app have been played more than 21 million times. An experienced Restorative Yoga Practitioner, she’s studied with Dr. Rubin Naiman, a pioneer in integrative sleep and dream medicine, and has spent thousands of hours in her 16+ years as a yoga practitioner guiding people in the impactful and neglected art of slowing down.

Links:

Piercy's site
Article on yoga nidra
Podcast interview with Jennifer
Recommended resource (see Chapter 15, Dreams and Multidimensional Reality)
Sacred Inclusion Network
Sacred Inclusion Network's Facebook Group
Sacred Inclusion Network's YouTube Channel --
Like the podcast? Support us on Patreon!

Raw Basement Tapes Blog

Message of the Day: Long Wave, Short Wave

Acceptance

Sleep Medicine: the Practice of Yoga Nidra

Sleep Medicine: the Practice of Yoga Nidra

Sleep Medicine: the Practice of Yoga Nidra

Sleep Medicine: the Practice of Yoga Nidra

Activating Egyptian Spirituality

Bridging Together Indigenous and Modern Science

Activating Egyptian Spirituality (Excerpt)

Archiving the Impossible

A Sufi Approach to Business

The Poet, the Buddhist, the Trans Warrior

Christianity, Christian Denial, and the Future of the Men's Movement

From Diversity 101 to Radical Inclusion

New Religious Movements

Travel, Religion and Spirituality

From Near-Death Survivor to Legend in Diversity

"About US" - A Foundation Story

"Shared Mystery" - the Unifying Thread

"Spirituality is the River"

A New Look at American Spirituality

When Spiritual Practice Gets Messy

Spirituality and Business

Travels with Greesh