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College Dorm Room Rock & Roll Meditation

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So there I was…

sitting down in my daily meditation practice, a loud jive rocked my body from the other side of the room.

This sonic groove engulfed my personal vortex, oscillating my chakras. My roommate and I shared very close quarters. He told me he was worried that the music was disturbing me. I appreciated his concern. He was delighted when I remained unperturbed. Surprisingly… more than it NOT bothering me, it added value to that experience. I went into a trance state and connected to the sound waves. Delightfully I remained focused on my oneness with ‘source’. Immersed in a subtle sonic sea.

Do you have a meditation experience where sound coursed through you on all levels of your being? Tell Us about it in the comment section below.

That roommate always turned me on to excellent music. Opening me up to new sonic expressions. I am grateful to him for sharing these different ideas.

As I went deep, the sound waves tantalized my senses. It effected me on a physical level. Sometimes the purpose of meditation is to get away from the physical. I am sure that some of the monks I studied with would say that this experience was moving further from pure ideation. Some might think that this was counter productive to the goals of that meditation. Connection to crude things distracted my connection to the subtle, blah blah blah etc… I have found there is always someone, even ones with credentials, who may poo poo anything. So I choose to enjoy… If it is not hurting me or anyone else… it is good.  Also… most importantly… God is the essence of all phenomena.

I feel that if everything is ONE, then we have to be very careful when drawing the line between crude and subtle, or bad and good. Oftentimes when something is very powerful it can be used for good or bad. It is up to the person wielding the tool. Music falls into this category. It is a very powerful force and can inspire people to do great things or awful things.

Our oneness can be broken up into different subdivisions. These subdivisions serve to help our puny mortal minds understand. The common three are mind, body, spirit. Some go even further to subdivide these. Astral, karmic, conscious, unconscious, subconscious, elemental, causal.

Anyways back to sound. Sound is a wave. It moves with a frequency. There are peaks and valleys. Although all things vibrate, sound is a vibration, in and of itself. It is not a solid thing that also vibrates. It is pure vibration. Actually that is not entirely true because sound cannot exist in a vacuum, but that is a whole other blog post.  So that being said it can cause other things to vibrate. The reason that we experience the sound is that the wave causes tiny bones in our ear to vibrate and thus the sound is registered by our brains through neurons etc… A singer can hit a high pitch which breaks a wine glass. When your at the dance club you can feel the bass in your bones because it is physically vibrating your body.


We were attending MICA, Maryland Institute College of Art and I suppose my roommate had as much right to noise as I had to quiet. I know the feeling. It is always nice to jam out to some fresh tunes while you work up your latest painting.

I was sitting on the floor in front of my closet. I had my altar erected at the bottom of the closet. I sat where my bed once had been. I convinced the dorm manager that I didn’t need it and it was moved elsewhere, to storage or another room I suppose. This is the point in my life that I began sleeping on the floor. All of the monks that I studied with were required to sleep on the floor, so I adopted this practice, and have found it preferable to a bed ever since.

I often followed the monks rules better than some of them. I was so focused on this path that many of them were convinced that I would become a monk. I remember little children at the meditation retreats confusing me for a monk. I remember them calling me ‘Dada.’ This is what we called the monks. The male ordained were Dada while the female ordained (nuns) were called Didi. I never took vows to become a monk. My little joke is that I like coffee and sex too much to be one of the celibate ordained. 😉

When I was sitting in my half lotus in my dorm room I chose to experience that vibration and remain focused on the most subtle supreme consciousness. The essence of the universe. In a way if you focus on any one thing long enough, with enough intensity, it will lead you back to source because everything sprang from that pure essence. So I swam downriver, in the stream of sound, and let it take me to the sea of pure consciousness.

Want some music to stimulate your chakras? Click here.



Do Yoga, End Child Abuse

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SCREAMS of abused young children coupled with the loud thunder of a belligerent, misguided father, pierced my paper thin walls.

I am a very gentle spirit. Aways looking forward to a peaceful meditation. The sounds of violence were like an electric fence wrapped around my mind. I kept getting shocked. My neighbors behavior was in sharp contrast to my personal way of being. I felt great sadness for this family.

Have you ever had to confront an abusive parent?

Have you witnessed or experienced these horrors?

Please share with us in the comments section below

Struggling with how to handle this situation, I wanted dearly for the children to live happy lives. I also longed for the pleasant sanctuary of my own space. I once had quiet. Since these new neighbors moved in I switched my meditation room to the other side of my house. Now my meditation space was as far from their adjoining wall as I could get it. This was better, but the boom of the fathers voice could travel 5 miles.

Being a musician I am very sensitive to sound. I am in the habit of listening very intently. It is second nature. I have spent years training my ears. Violent noises are upsetting. While digging into my standard multiple hour meditation practice I would be jolted out of serenity. I had to do something to protect these children and preserve my sanctuary.

What is the best way to confront the father?

How violent is this person?

How do I ensure my own safety while attempting to help this family?

Chris, the youngest child, would eagerly await my return from teaching yoga class. His mother told me I was like a part of their family. She informed me he would watch out the front window. When he saw me pull up in my Scion xB he would cheerfully announce my arrival.

“Charlie’s home! Charlie’s home!”

The abuse was probably less when I was home. The father, no doubt, self corrected, because I would confront him or notify the authorities. I had to be careful when dealing with this family because I was afraid for my own well-being as well as that of the poor children. The father once even threatened me directly for interfering. I’ll never forget his exact words,

“People live longer when they mind their own business.”

How awful?!?!

I had visions of being struck from behind with a crowbar. I was afraid of walking outside my own house and being assaulted while my back was turned. That way he could continue living this nightmare. I quickly discovered that it is very difficult to get serious action to take place concerning child abuse in Baltimore County. The authorities kind of sweep it under the rug. I suppose they feel they have more urgent needs to attend to. What they may not realize is, that it is more likely that those abused children grow up to be even worse violent offenders.


You can imagine the difficulty of maintaining a spiritual practice under these circumstances. Particularly since I had not yet studied Seneca and the stoics at this point. Perhaps if I was aware of these teachings I could have dealt with the awfulness a little better.

I continued working on my music and making recordings. I had to throw out several peaceful tracks on my album because you hear violence in the background. I was, however, able to complete a few tracks while living there. These songs represent a triumph over pain and suffering. I did what I could to protect these children, attempting to understand the tormented history of the father. Protecting myself and maintaining my creative projects, and spiritual practice, is also important.

Eventually I moved away from that neighborhood to start a spiritual center with a buddy of mine. It was the most curious thing. While I was moving some boxes onto my front porch, the father came out specifically to talk to me. He requested that I pose for a photograph with the youngest child. He wanted a picture for Chris to remember me. That bit of tenderness touched me. It also confused me. I suppose that, even though they were resistant, they inevitably were grateful for my intervention and influence on the family. Over the course of a couple years the physical abuse lessened to almost nothing. That is a win. However the hollering and verbal abuse never seemed to end. I can only hope that this particular father was a little better than his father and the one before him. I assume he was abused as a child. The abused often become the abusers.

Do you have an experience with child abuse or abuse in general? Sharing your experience may help shed light on other peoples lives. Have any insights that can help make us better humans? Please share share it in the comments section below.



Using Breath Control to Achieve the Healing of Sleep and Massage

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Use the breath to bring ease and comfort to your body

aches and pains dissolve as you use coordinated breath along with subtle movements

part of the healing effects of sleep take place due to the body’s automatic deep breathing that is triggered once you enter slumber.

Why wait until you sleep to breath deep and steady?

The majority of humans only really receive the benefits of breath when they are sleeping. When one goes to sleep there is an automatic response from the body to breath deep and steady. You can actively and consciously control the cadence of your breath.  The breath isn’t only an unconscious and automatic response.  We can control the breath. Indeed, the breath is automatic. But it can also be easily controlled by your own will. The breath can be used as a gateway to control over other seemingly automatic functions of the body, like heart rate, orgasm, auto-immune, etc… Many masters can get their heart rate down to an imperceptible level. When no pulse is detected onlookers may be concerned they are dead. But indeed they are the most alive.

Do you ever feel short of breath? Erratic breathing? Share it with us in the comments section below

the breath can be used as a most effective way to massage the body from the inside.

I am sure most of you know the benefits of massage. These include:

  • increased circulation
  • lymphatic draining
  • relaxation
  • released lactic acid

All of these same rewards occur when you use your breath and focus on the injured area.  Inhales and exhales apply and release pressure, just like a healers hands, but from the inside out. A massage therapist will knead away the aches and pains from the outside. The breath dissolves pain from the inside. It is more subtle than massage. With a little patience you can discover and reorganize the micro-connectivity in your body.

Another advantage here is you take ownership of your own healing. You don’t have to wait for your therapy appointment. You can reenergize your own cells any time you like. You are a self sufficient regenerative being. With your personal internal practice in conjunction with external healing from community, you will be super powerful.

Inhales and exhales should be full and deep.

These complete and steady breaths energize all yours cells. Breathing should be moderately slow. We remove blockages and open up new pathways. Encourage new energy to ripen.



Discover where your body hurts. Ask yourself, “ where is my pain?” For some of you this may be obvious. Others may require more exploration. Bring yourself into a pose where you might feel pain from an injury or illness. Move deeper into the pose until you feel a sharp pain, then back off the pose a little. Ease off to the point that the sharp pain subsides, and hold there. This is your radius of healing. A subtle arch from pain to comfort. It may be the difference of a couple millimeters, or several inches. Nonetheless this radius is generally very small. It is generally never as large as a foot. However, nothing is set in stone and there are always variables. You want to find the point where you feel comfortable while breathing shallow. But, in that same position, there is pain during a deep breath. At this point you will feel a slight pain on either the fullest inhale or exhale.

The pressure resulting from the breathing can yield pain or relief at different intervals and in different situations. For instance inhale…pain, exhale… relief. Or it may hurt when you exhale more than when you inhale. Continue to bring yourself from comfort to pain through the gradient of this breath. Move to and from the pain. Move in and out of comfort using only the breath. Gradually the body will realize that it is not in danger and healing begins. The body realizes that the pain is only temporary. The pain is not constant. Let it dissolve.

Awareness is the first step

Noticing these variations in sensation will bring you great personal physical awareness.

Then it is time for action.

Like doing weightlifting reps on a micro scale. Do your breathing reps inside your radius of healing.

Continue to breath deep and watch as you experience peaks and valleys of pain. With this technique the pain trends toward release. Sometimes you may feel relief. Other times you may discover pain you forgot was there. We go numb for a variety of reasons. In an attempt to run from the pain the mind will disconnect from the body. The result is a decrease in sensation.

Even though you may unearth some old pain, overall the body feels better and better. Gradually through this process you will be able to gain greater levels of ability and comfort. If you have chronic pain then we just have to use a different gradient scale. Everyones radius of healing is different. Find the pose of most pain… move out to a point of less pain… and breath.

so… for the relatively healthy person the radius will be (pain<——–>relief). for the person with chronic pain the current gradient scale will move from (pain<——>less pain). Of course, even the person with chronic pain will eventually achieve perfect relief through this technique.

Acknowledge the pain… thank the pain for lessons learned. Now invite new joyous sensation into your life.

We are bringing awareness to the body. We are acknowledging the pain, rather than avoiding it, and we move patiently and incrementally into and out of it. Not too fast, not too slow, just the right amount. The right thing at the right moment or Ishvarpranidan in sanskrit. If one moves too fast the injury may become worse or cause other injuries to occur. If one moves too slow, results will be lost, or stagnation may occur. However, moving slowly, in most cases, is better than doing nothing. The lack of movement trends towards death. Life likes movement. Absence of movement should not be confused with conscious purposeful stillness however. With conscious stillness there only appears to be nothing happening. Meanwhile there is infinite internal movement. Pause and witness the microscopic universes swirling inside of you.