My heart chakra journey began while I worked as a business school intern at Bryan Kest’s PowerYoga in the summer of 2003 in Santa Monica, CA. I was a student at UCLA’s Anderson School of Management and I wanted to do something entrepreneurial and fun. While seeking advice on a business plan for a restaurant concept, I connected with Bryan’s business partner, Chris. I had a fun summer learning how to run a start-up and started practicing yoga. I decided to work with Bryan and Chris full-time after I graduated. Unbeknownst to me, I was making the choice to step into a deep personal journey under the dis(guise) of growing a startup.
I had incentive to focus on the area in the back and front of my chest, in the area of my heart chakra. I had a ski injury back in college at Dartmouth over 12 years ago where I compressed five vertebrae in my thoracic spine; there was a lot of scar tissue to loosen up. It’s amazing how an injury really encouraged me to pay attention to a certain part of my body where not only the physical field was affected, but the energetic one as well. [click to continue…]
I’ve had several interesting consulting and business partnership opportunities come my way in the last week. I decided to pull out my Osho Tarot deck to see if it would reveal any additional information to me. I pulled three cards and one of them was the “Participation” card.
Participation Card, Osho Zen Tarot
The commentary about this card describes to me the ultimate team/partnership relationship in a business setting and I’ve shared part of it with you here.
Each figure in this mandala holds the right hand up, in an attitude of receiving, and the left hand down, in an attitude of giving. The whole circle creates a tremendous energy field that takes on the shape of the double dorje, the Tibetan symbol for thunderbolt. The mandala has a quality like that of the energy field that forms around a Buddha, where all the individuals taking part in the circle make a unique contribution to create a unified and vital whole. It is like a flower, whose wholeness is even more beautiful than the sum of its parts, at the same time enhancing the beauty of each individual petal.
To me, what is described above is the result of perfect teamwork where the sum is greater than the individual parts, while each individual’s uniqueness and contribution to the whole stands out.
Over the last four years, I have been focused on bringing consciousness into the gestalt that is business. As a result, I have been experimenting with different tools to explain the benefits of transformational work. Of course, there is no better tool than direct embodied experience, but sometimes a more mind-oriented approach is more appropriate.
Hence: PowerPoint — to ground my transformational rhetoric by using an ordinary business communication tool.
I created this presentation two years ago to help people understand that how one relates (to friends, family, colleagues, nature, etc.) directly affects one’s ability to transform the world around. By taking responsibility for positive relationship completely, one becomes a progressive growth experience for others enabling unlimited potential for economic, political, and artistic transformation.
I wrote this 3 years ago in November 2006. Reading it again, the text is darker than how I feel today. Nonetheless, much of it is still relevant though the current economic recession and Obama’s political term create a new shadow.
Introduction
An imbalance exists within much of industry today; and, the proper restoration of this balance is essential to ensure the longevity of all species and cultures on this earth–human, plant, and animal. Without this redistribution, diversity will be lost which is integral to the composition of life. We are in the midst of re-defining industry’s relationship with nature. If we do not, many more species and cultures will die. A recent 700-page report by former World Bank Chief Economist Sir Nicholas Stern, and one of the British government’s top economic advisors, suggests that without any action to stem current trends, global warming could shrink the world’s economy by up to 20%, costing it more than either of the 20th century’s world wars or the Depression.[1]
This article is about redistributing the value chain; it’s about organizing misaligned industry around universal truths–to carry it into balance. A comparison study from the early 1900s of the writings of Ralph Waldo Emerson and the Vedanta found: “Truth is not the exclusive property of any one group of people, but is the common property of the whole human race and equally open to all who can claim it. Whoever is open to truth does not care from what source it comes. It is Truth, that is sufficient.”[2]
A spiritual outlook guides these universal truths as they create a framework which underlies global consciousness. [click to continue…]
Have you ever been to Esalen? My first time was in August. I had written down in early January that one of the goals I had for myself this year was to go to Esalen. In August, I was in the midst of making a lot of important changes in my life and decided spending a weekend at Esalen would be a great way to transition into the new.
I decided to take a workshop with Rick Jarow assisted by Dawn Avery. My friend Sura knew Rick so we all drove up together and had 5 great hours of getting to know each other; we were squeezed in tight while driving from LA to Big Sur with 4 people and Dawn’s cello sitting in my jetta!
We arrived safely and with smiles. Five minutes after setting my backpack down on my bunk, I walked into a movement class where I shook and boogied, dropped into my body and got into the Esalen flow. I then ate a delicious dinner made with love and vegetables from an organic garden grown on the property. After dinner I went for a soak in the tubs–spectacular. Great conversation. Subtle moments. Crashing waves. Seaweed. Birds. Salt air. An evening workshop intro. Sleep.
The next day, I had an enjoyable workshop morning and a wonderful Esalen afternoon. I slept on the grass in the sunshine, listening to the waves. I sat in the round meditation room. I played in a fairy pool. I walked through the organic garden. I spent more time in the tubs. And, I walked into the art barn and made a painting of my “key”. Earlier in the day during a group exercise with Rick, I had envisioned the key as an entry point to new events in my life.
Keyhole
As a retreat center, Esalen is wonderful — carefully designed and landscaped for the ultimate experience. The land itself is breathtaking and magical. It holds space for each of the workshops and provides a container for transformational change. The land works in harmony with people there — encouraging them towards truth. I felt this first hand.
I had a wonderful time. Not only was Rick’s conversation, workshop and message perfect for me at the time, the land enhanced and highlighted the entire experience.
I felt rejuvenated and re-freshed after my weekend at Esalen and am excited to go back when the moment is right! If you’ve never been, I highly recommend a visit.
This year I started playing with paint and large sheets of paper; Here are my results. I love creating with color and images that flow from my fingertips, without thought. My first work of art created in spring of this year is called Flowing Tree. I made it in an afternoon workshop led by my good friend and artist Ali-Sun Trees.
Flowing Tree
I had so much fun creating that weekend, that I made video of me and my friends — beautiful women friends coming together to share, create and rejuvenate!
tures on this earth–human, plant, and animal. Without this redistribution, diversity will be lost which is integral to the composition of life. We are in the midst of re-defining industry’s relationship with nature. If we do not, many more species and cultures will die. A recent 700-page report by former World Bank Chief Economist Sir Nicholas Stern, and one of the British government’s top economic advisors, suggests that without any action to stem current trends, global warming could shrink the world’s economy by up to 20%, costing it more than either of the 20th century’s world wars or the Depression.
