We live in a time of spiritual paradox. With the level of interconnectivity and information exchange these days, almost any spiritual practice sought after can be found. You would think large numbers of people would be well on their way to enlightenment. But I can quickly point out that the vast majority of people today lack basic discipline. I like what Aleister Crowley had to say about this in his autobiography, The Confessions of Aleister Crowley:
Combine in one man the strength of Hercules, the beauty of Apollo, the grace of Antinos, the wisdom of Athena, the intelligence of Hermes, and every other gift of every other god, unless the anatomist is careful to supply a spine to support the structure, you will have a mollusk and not a man. You must have a fulcrum, not only to move the world, but to move a feather.
But it goes much deeper than that. No matter how much practice people do, other than the initial changes that hook them, very little happens thereafter. Many teachers like Adyashanti just seem to resolve themselves to the idea that most students have no hope of making progress and that they should learn to accept that reality. Even though a select few, well known teachers like Osho understood the crux of this issue, there is very little awareness or discussion of the primary problem.
The Natural Human
Only a natural, innocent person can truly move into higher states of consciousness. By innocent Osho did not mean ignorant, or inexperienced in life. He rather used the word to point toward deep and natural acceptance of self, beginning with one’s body.
To my knowledge, other than Osho ashrams, no one has made this the primary focus of spiritual teaching for the masses. If teachers did focus on this central point, they would draw a different student demographic, one of hippies and drop-outs rather than committed spiritual students. Most spiritual students have an artificially inflated spiritual ego leading them to believe that they should be doing advanced practices; when in fact, they probably shouldn’t be doing basic practices. Hippies and drop-outs once given a safe environment to be themselves want nothing for anything else. God and spiritual practice… who cares?
The biggest irony is that a natural human, one free of guilt, sexual repression, dulled intelligence and creativity, has no inclination to think about god or spirituality. The need for spirituality, after all, is a symptom of repression and depression. I have seem so many people come and go from spiritual environments. They come as a result of trauma and leave when it has lessened.
True spiritual pursuit only arises when a natural human no longer has any desire to do human things and have human experiences by way of being fully satiated with this realm. It is more like having a curiosity about death and parts of reality outside of normal human parameters. It is the desire to live in a larger reality and the capacity to go there. No one I know fits this bill. If I really push it, I find that in each case people want to live a happier more fulfilling life; they want to be a natural human.
Add to our paradox, it is neither possible to be a natural human nor a true spiritual disciple. We live in times that make it necessary to pursue spirituality to arrive at the conclusion that we are not natural humans only to discover that we are not allowed to be natural... by our family, culture, socio-economic level, religion, science, government, ... and so on. We must come into this world with the inherent ability to overcome normal reality by way of spiritual discipline to arrive at the decision to continue spirituality to its real conclusion or to attempt to create an environment that is natural.
This is tough.
Given a level of attainment and progress (as hard as it is to come by), we have to undo it. With real insight into reality, we are deeply tainted and influenced by knowledge that inhibits natural behavior. Exposing deeper layers of reality means interacting with them and breaking normal rules. This mode of operating is alien to a natural human. On the other hand, without being free of guilt and societal programming, no real progress will be made past a certain point. If progress is pursued in violation of this basic truism, any unresolved tendency will be eventually be weaponized to monstrous proportions guaranteeing a grand descent. All must be undone and re-approached almost from the beginning.
Tantra
Given this nasty paradox, teachers like Osho, Gurdjieff, and Crowley choose to live and teach the Left Handed Path, Tantra. There is a great deal of confusion about this word. Let’s be clear; it does not mean special sex practices. That is a bastardized version of some eastern teachings. Some of the traditions of Tantra have as part of their repertoire some advanced practices that include sex. It is like saying that eating a bread wafer representing the body of Christ is the whole and some of Christianity. At best, it is a well concealed lie.
The path of Tantra has to do with embracing reality, the body, desires, and tendencies with a level of discipline that takes the practitioner into and through experiences to a level of transcendence. To do this, reality must be laid bare. Lies and coping mechanisms are dropped; turmoil is embraced. Imagine the power and presence of a crazy person that has discipline. This is a good way to look at it because the tantric practitioner marries chaos. In this view, there is no god, no right, no wrong - all is grey area. You have your intuition in each moment to decide on any action, where fear is your guide forward and toward experiences. This is marrying chaos because once on this path there is no support structure to lean on and the endgame is only success and bitter failure and no way out or in between. Tantra is considered the highest teaching in any path because of its potency and danger.
Tantra is one of the best paths for our time given our terrible paradox.
Tantra aims at its lowest level to produce a natural human with discipline. It produces results, often explosive results. The question you have to ask yourself is how important is progress in your world? What are you willing to risk in the name of being a natural human or leaving this reality? The naturally inclined natural human will look for natural environments and not be confused about it being something spiritual. If you cannot muster the mojo for either approach, then you should get on with being okay with being an unnatural human and at least be clear about it. Then you can live a semi-decent life. You may not be natural but you can be real.
My Bodywork
Just when I feel like I know something about the human body, I'm shown a new way to relate to it. There seems to be endless ways. Since form affects function and vice versa, how we use it and relate to it determines how it will orient and organize itself, which affects our glands, organs, moods, and energy levels. It can be made into a vehicle for experiencing the most exquisite pleasures or into a torture chamber of unrelenting pain and agony.
If that isn't complicated enough, we have to know something about the mind. For if our minds are allowed to have free reign, they become like spoiled children or in the worst cases demons. Our thoughts and emotions eventually, if not immediately, manifest in our body. Over time, the body's shape will literally match up with the psychological and emotional make-up of a person. Likewise, when we can change our physical posture, we affect our thoughts and emotions. This begs the question do we try to change our bodies or our thoughts and emotions or both at the same time? Is one of these routes easier than another? The answers appear to be quite individual. If we weren't so stuck in our point of view of self, we might find the process utterly fascinating and want to be in it and experience the process with appalling attraction.
Since I have a good understand of anatomy and physiology and have an analytical mind with respect to problem solving, as a massage therapist, I can help you with injuries, physical pain, and the physiological problems that arise due to structural imbalance. My work involves extensively charting the body's alignment, determining whether structural imbalances need to be addressed outside of bodywork, and then taking care of the problems that have been facilitated due to longer-term imbalance. With this approach, I'm looking to figure out why you have chronic problems and to address them with permanent solutions.
As a yogi and a massage therapist going through my own therapeutic process, my approach to massage and bodywork is always finding new territory. Almost every technique I use, I do on myself daily. I have a daily practice of yoga, self-massage, strength work, therapeutic stretching, and meditation. As my daily practice refines itself, my approach to bodywork gets smarter, more efficient, and more elegant. I believe that there are ways to do the deepest work without going through a lot of pain and I endeavor keep in mind that the body is an intelligent system and that everything is the way it is for a good reason.
My disposition is very calm. Just being in my presence will help relax you without me doing any massage. Since I do quite a bit of yoga and meditation and have a healthy lifestyle including eating well, my vibrational frequency is high. This benefits you because being around me will help raise your frequency. This will help you with your outlook on life, your mood, and patterned reoccurring thoughts. You want to work with a therapist that is healthier and happier than you are and knows that being a therapist involves a daily practice that helps resolve not only their own garbage but also their clients' garbage. Energy moves from denser concentration to lighter concentration. The therapist should be ready to pickup some of your stuff and be able to process it. If the therapist is vibrationally denser than you, you may pick up some of their garbage.
I've been a massage therapist since August 2003. I graduated from the Central Florida School of Massage Therapy in Winter Park. I integrate the following modalities - Posturology, Therapeutic Stretching, Fundamental Integration, CranioSacral Therapy, Positional Release, Neuromuscular, Thai, Body Tuning, and Sat Nam Rasayan.
While I appreciate many forms of yoga and meditation, it is Kundalini Yoga that I find myself doing the most. I'm trained as a teacher, teaching periodically, and it is a good part of the yoga I do everyday. In fact, I would say that it is yoga that got me into massage. I was into yoga almost a decade before I got into massage. When I went through teacher training for yoga, I felt that the training was substantially insufficient in training teachers to know and understand anatomy and physiology. I remember thinking that the best yoga teachers were also bodyworkers. White Tantric Yoga, which is closely related to Kundalini Yoga in the West, is what definitively led me to study massage. Doing White Tantric, I realized that many of the practitioners are also yoga teachers and bodyworkers. To really understand what was going on and get the most out of it, I felt that I needed to get into some kind of healing modality.
Boundaries
I'd like especially those Internet oriented clients to know that I am a Florida state licensed massage therapist. I am nationally certified through the NCBTMB. I am a member of the FSMTA and that all work I do is within the legal and ethical boundaries of these organizations.
Pricing
Private yoga instruction: 1.5 hours - $72 (at the Kundalini Yoga Center)
Pricing for table massage:
You come to me (incall)
- 1 hour - $72
- 1.5 hours - $108
- 2 hours - $144
I go to you (outcall)
- 1 hour - $81
- 1.5 hours - $117
- 2 hours - $153
Chair massage: $72 per hour.
I accept cash, check, and credit(Visa and Mastercard). Note that all numbers numerologically add to 9.
There are several ways I can work with you.
- You come to me. There are several locations I can work from.
- I come to your home.
- Or I come to your work place (chair massage, clothed table massage).
Contact
The best way to contact me about making an appointment or to ask about anything related to this site is by phone.
Otherwise, you can reach me by email.
