Catherine Goshen, a consulting astrologer in Piermont, recently qualified as a highest honors graduate of Noel Tyl’s rigorous master’s degree certification program for professional astrologers. “This course is extremely demanding – not only does it cover psychologically rich and deeply analytical astrology but also the ethics of counseling as a profession,” she shares.
With the warmer weather finally in our grasp it is time to clean off the outdoor grill and enjoy the abundance of delicious fresh garden fruits and vegetables made available this time of year.
Kristine Ringler is pleased to be on the board of directors’ vice president for the Veterans Yoga Project and consult at West Point and the Service Women’s Action Network (SWAN). As a Civil Affairs soldier from 2002-2010, with deployments in Iraq and Kosovo, she understands the benefits of yoga and meditation to handle stress. “I was honored to be a presenter at the Sedona Yoga Festival on how to practice yoga in stressful environments and am glad to be part of the Veterans Yoga Project,” she shares.
Our gut is where our immune health begins. What we put into our bodies nutritionally and environmentally, whether actively or passively, plays a large part in how our immune system functions and how we feel both mentally and physically. Many people become accustomed to living with nagging but bearable chronic problems such as headaches, fatigue, mood swings, bloating and general gastrointestinal discomfort. It has become a way of life in the hectic lifestyles we lead. However it shouldn’t be this way and it can be changed. Focusing on improving our nutrition is a great first step.
Early in my training, Master Tian told me, "First you train Tai Chi power, then Tai Chi power trains you." It took well over a year of dedicated training of Tai Chi for me to experience Tai Chi power training me. If you have ever built a fire, you understand that at first you feed it, then, once it is established, it feeds you. You could say this is a positive version of reaping what you sow.
Addiction can be equated to a negative version of this pattern. In the beginning stages of addiction, the potential addict unwittingly sets the conditions wherein addiction occurs and then at some unseen moment the tables turn and the addiction drives the addict. This is reflected in the adage, "A man takes a drink, the drink takes a drink, the drink takes the man." All addicted people suffer their way into addiction, some people are blessed to suffer their way out.
Embracing Empowerment
Here are some patterns to recognize that can empower you or your loved one in the conflict against addiction and striving for recovery.
Resilience: Addiction is the absence of resilience. Addicts, while able to endure tremendous suffering over the course of their lives and addictions, are compulsively pain avoidant. As the addiction grows, the tolerance for everyday discomfort lessens and the desire for the addictive focus increases. Recovery then is the discipline of facing the natural pain of life while gaining integrity in the struggle to face life ‘on life's terms’. The quality of recovery is directly related to the ability to productively reconcile the reality of pain as an unavoidable truth of life. This requires tremendous unrelenting dedication to building resilience out of the daily pain of life and turning adversity into gain.
Choice: Addiction is a disease defined by the loss of choice. The fewer the choices, the worse the addiction. Recovery is a quest to expand life with new choices and new experiences that are empowering and life enhancing.
Curiosity: The addict primarily is with the addiction and the world of the addict shrinks in proportion to accommodate the demand. Even the most open hearted people who develop an addiction fall prey to this. Conversely, people who enjoy a strong recovery have a nearly insatiable curiosity to explore life. They love life.
Responsibility: Addicts often blame everyone and everything else for their suffering. Addicts with the longest and strongest recovery have a deep need to recover—not just for their own benefit, but also for the people they care about and who care about them. The have gone from being disconnected and all about their need to being considerate and responsible for how they affect others. There is a saying a friend of mine is fond of—“If you want to know how my recovery is, ask my family.” Brilliant.
Sidebar: There are many theories about addiction and a tremendous amount of conflict regarding how to treat it. Professionally, I left this debate ten years ago when I ended my ten year career in drug and alcohol counseling. Personally, this is a subject that has shaped my life in some form or another ever since I was boy.
Sifu Ed D’Urso is the founder of the Fire Mountain School, where his goal is to empower people through martial arts and Conscious Fighting. The Fire Mountain School is located at 53 Hudson Ave. in Nyack. For more information, visit TheFireMountainSchool.com or contact 893-3160.
Serious students of yoga are familiar with the notion of the five koshas or the five states of being. Kabbalah speaks of the five levels of soul. The Hebrew word for soul is ‘neshomah’ and the Hebrew word for breath is ‘neshimah’. The two words share the same Hebrew letters: only their vowels are different. This hints at their common spiritual root.
Addiction is primarily a struggle of being in which the addict has not learned how to live effectively in his or her current life and circumstances. The problem of addiction only can be resolved through learning a new way to live. By being able to understand this, and realizing that there is a choice and a chance, the addict is addressing one of the biggest obstacles to recovery.
Many women find themselves confused about the issue of breast screening these days. For decades we have been told that an annual mammogram is our best chance for early detection of breast cancer, and that we are irresponsible if we don’t have one. However, the findings of the independent U.S. Preventive Services Task Force in 2009 revealed that while mammograms may detect a few more cancers, they do not change outcomes for women.
In December of 2000 before placing my rose order for Valentines’ Day, I began researching the American Beauty rose that I realized was mysteriously no longer offered. My alarming findings and unbelievable blindness of my industry were more than I expected. It led me to my decision of a 10 year endeavor to completely restructure it to green certified and to bring awareness by creating the first ‘eco florist’.
The Sacred Center Mystery School in Warwick is pleased to announce their two-day introductory class ‘Illuminating Your Greater Reality’ on June 27 and 28.
