Zig Ziglar

Ziglar in March 2009

Suzan Ziglar Witmeyer (died 1995)Tom ZiglarCindy Ziglar OatesJulie Ziglar Norman

Hilary Hinton "Zig" Ziglar (November 6, 1926 November 28, 2012) was an American author, salesman, and motivational speaker.

"Zig" Ziglar was born in Coffee County in southeastern Alabama, to John Silas Ziglar and Lila Wescott Ziglar.[1] He was the tenth of 12 children.[2]

In 1931, when Ziglar was five years old, his father took a management position at a Mississippi farm, and his family moved to Yazoo City, Mississippi, where he spent most of his early childhood. The next year, his father died of a stroke, and his younger sister died two days later.

He was in the Navy V-12 Navy College Training Program and attended the University of South Carolina in Columbia, South Carolina.[citation needed]

Ziglar later worked as a salesman in a succession of companies. In 1968, he became a vice president and training director for the Automotive Performance company and moved to Dallas, Texas.

In 2007, a fall down a flight of stairs left him with short-term memory problems. Nonetheless, by 2010, Ziglar still traveled around taking part in motivational seminars.[citation needed]

Ziglar met his wife, Jean, in 1944, in Jackson, Mississippi. He was 17 and she was 16; they married in late 1946.[3] They had four children: Suzan, Tom, Cindy, and Julie.

Ziglar, a Baptist, integrated Christianity into his motivational work. He was also a Republican who endorsed the former Governor of Arkansas Mike Huckabee for his party's presidential nomination in 2008.[4]

On November 28, 2012, Ziglar died from pneumonia at a hospital in Plano, Texas.[5]

Continue reading here:
Zig Ziglar - Wikipedia

Alfred Lord Tennyson once said, The height that great men reached and kept were not attained by sudden flight, but they, while their companion slept were toiling upward in night. The meteoric rise of Bezos on the Forbes rating was never sudden as he rose to the top as a result of some life principles blended in healthy proportion and linked together with a tenacious grit. There are some idiosyncratic approaches to business that can be gleaned from the man who built what is today known as the Everything Store.

There are 14 critical points that I will really like to underline to help entrepreneurs and start-ups reach the zenith of their pursuit in life. Here are some of the strategies Bezos used in building his Amazon Empire:

SEEING AND SEIZING OPPORTUNITIES: True riches are not measured in money but rather in opportunities seized. A sure way to miss success is to miss opportunity! It is an un-debatable truth that people get ahead in life through the opportunity they seize. Great leaders are not necessarily the first to see opportunities but they are the first to seize opportunities. Jackson Brown said, Nothing is more expensive than a missed opportunity. Our life is defined by opportunities, including the ones we miss. In 1994, Bezos read that the web had grown 2,300% in one year. This number astounded him, and he decided he needed to find some way to take advantage of its rapid growth. He made a list of 20 possible products to sell online and decided books were the best option. Since 1994, the web has grown exponentially and so is Jeff Bezos wealth. The ability to see opportunities when others are seeing only problems is the essential thing that distinguishes successful people from others.

YOUR DREAM MUST BE A PRIORITY, NOT YOUR SALARY: Farrah Gray said, Build your own dreams, or someone else will hire you to build theirs. The only thing that is valid in life is your dream, not your job or salary. After graduation in 1986 from Princeton University, Jeff Bezos found work at several firms on Wall Street, including Fitel, Bankers Trust and the investment firm D.E. Shaw. It was there he met his wife, Mackenzie, and became the companys youngest vice president in 1990. While his career in finance was extremely lucrative, Bezos chose to make a risky move into the nascent world of e-commerce to follow his dream. He quit his highly lucrative job in 1994, moved to Seattle and targeted the untapped potential of the Internet market by opening an online bookstore-Amazon was born! Eleanor Roosevelt once said, The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.

START SMALL; GROW BIG: The greatest tragedy of life is to do nothing just because you think you can only do little. Learning to start small is the secret of greatness. Edmund Burke captured this succinctly when he said, Nobody made a greater mistake than he who did nothing because he could do only a little. Bezos started Amazon.com in a garage with a potbelly stove. He held most of his meetings at the neighborhood Barnes & Noble. We are permitted to start small but we must never remain small.

GET A MENTOR: Zig Ziglar said, A lot of people have gone further than they thought they could because someone else thought they could. In order to get farther in life, we must get a father! Sir Isaac Newton said, If I have seen further, it is by standing upon the shoulders of giants. Jeff Bezos was a demanding boss and could explode at employees. Rumour has it he hired a leadership coach to help him tone it down. Mentors help us manage our weaknesses and magnify our strength. Costly and damaging mistakes can be avoided when we allow ourselves to be mentored by people that are more matured and experienced in our fields of endeavour.

INVEST, INVEST AND INVEST!: The truly rich people invest their money. The easiest way to make more money is not to work for money but to let your money work for you. You become financially free when you no longer have to work for money because money is working for you. In 1998, Bezos became an early investor in Google. He invested $250,000, which was worth about 3.3 million shares when the company went public in 2004. Those would be worth about $2.2 billion today! In August 2013, Bezos bought The Washington Post for $250 million. He also invested in space projects and his space company Blue Origin made history last year when it became one of the first commercial companies to successfully launch a reusable rocket.

TAKE THE RISK: In todays rapidly changing world, the people who are not taking risk are actually the risk takers! Jeff Bezos said, If you decide that youre going to do only the things you know are going to work, youre going to leave a lot of opportunity on the table. Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far it is possible to go. In the early days of Amazon, many doomsdays were predicted by experts but the e-commerce pathfinder kept saying one thing: I know that if I failed I will not regret that, but I know the one thing I will forever regret is not trying.

E-SALE IS THE NEW PHASE OF SELLING: Online sales and marketing have opened doors to a new era of global marketing. The world we are in today is being sustained by technology and information. Any entrepreneur that is not maximizing the opportunities availed by the Internet and social media will ultimately lag behind. I want to categorically say that entrepreneurs will not be replaced by technology, but entrepreneurs who do not use technology will be replaced by those who do.

DIVERSIFY: Amazon started by selling books on-line at inception but Bezos continued to diversify Amazons offerings with the sale of CDs and videos in 1998, and later clothes, electronics, toys and more through major retail partnerships. Bezos also entered Amazon into the tablet marketplace with the unveiling of the Kindle Fire in 2011. The following September, he announced the new Kindle Fire HD, the companys next generation tablet designed to give Apples iPad a run for its money.

TAKE CRITICISM AS FEEDBACKS: Winners see criticism as feedbacks; average people see criticism as an attack. Jeff Bezos said, If you never want to be criticized, for goodness sake dont do anything new.

YOUR ASSOCIATION MATTERS: The ability to connect with people that are valuable to your destination is priceless. Life is too short to be with a partner who makes you feel less than awesome. Jeff Bezos has this to say about his wife: I wanted a woman who could get me out of a Third World prison. Lifes too short to hang out with people who arent resourceful.

CREATE GOOD CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE: When you make customers happy, they will tell five friends but when you make customers unhappy, they wont tell five friends, they will tell 5,000 friends! Customer satisfaction is the best form of advertisement. Jeff Bezos said, If youre competitor-focused, you have to wait until there is a competitor doing something. Being customer-focused allows you to be more pioneering. Be obsessed about customers, not competitors.

MAKE NEW MISTAKES: Tallulah Bankhead said, If I had my life to live over again, Id make the same mistakes, only sooner. Nobody learns without first getting it wrong. Tony Robbins said, No matter how many mistakes you make. Youre still way ahead of everyone who isnt trying.

EVOLVE: Thomas Edison said, There is always a better way, find it. In business, it is dangerous not to evolve because old ways wont open new doors. Jeff Bezos said, As a company, one of our greatest cultural strengths is accepting the fact that if youre going to invent, youre going to disrupt. Dont glory in the past. I have realised over the years that the greatest hindrance to success is not failure; it is actually the previous success.

THINK LONG-TERM: Be a visionary. Charles C. Noble said, You must have long-term goals to keep you from being frustrated by short-term failures.

See the rest here:
Jeff Bezos: Becoming Bill Gates' nightmare - Guardian (blog)

How many of us doctors have time to read? Between the clinic and the hospital, it is often very difficult to take a break. However, there is one place where we get a built in break, our cars. The late motivational speaker, Zig Ziglar, once said that if we are looking to improve our business and our life, look no further than the drive to work. By listing to educational audiotapes and CDs, you can have "an entire university in your automobile."

Most of us reserve our time in the car for listening to music, or catching up on current events. So why not be more productive and use that time to educate yourself? I remember a few physician mentors from medical school as well as my father (a pediatrician), would often listen to audiotapes to claim CME credit. Today, with the advent of podcasts and sites like Audible.com, we are privy to podcasts on thousands of niche topics designed for specific demographics, including physicians.

As a business owner, I often spend a few days each month visiting different clinics. During my rides, Ive discovered a number of different podcasts that have helped me improve my medical practice.

In terms of podcast recommendations, as someone who has been a podcaster myself, I know it can be very difficult to record consistently. For this list, I specifically chose podcasts that are current, and have consistently released new content over the last year. I excluded podcasts that were focused on CME or catered to one specialty, preferring general information that could help a majority of docs. Here are my top choices:

1. Freedom Formula for Physicians Podcast: Pretty auspicious title, right? Hosted by financial consultant Dave Denniston, the goal of the podcast is to "help doctors slash their debt, slash their taxes, and live a liberated lifestyle." Denniston has produced over 100 informative episodes tailored to educating doctors with financial and business advice. The podcast covers everything from student loan refinancing, to reducing malpractice premiums. Denniston uses his podcast as a way to cover topics many doctors never learned in medical school.

2. Docs Talk: The podcast title pretty much sums it up. Two Texas-based physicians share their views on healthcare, the science of medicine, and "everything in between." I especially enjoyed the back and forth camaraderie of the two doctors, and they often give insight on whats going on in today's news and how it may relate to your patients. I would compare the podcast to eavesdropping at your local hospital's doctor's lounge.

3. Docs outside the Box: Practicing surgeon Dr. Nii Darko spotlights physicians "thriving in non-traditional career paths." Dissatisfied being an employee, Dr. Darko transitioned to locum tenens and along the way ran into doctors leading strong, fulfilled lives. "If I had known some of these stories or met these people during my climb up the ladder, maybe I would have done things a bit differently," he says. From docs running startups, to flipping real estate, this is definitely a podcast to listen to if you have dreams of being a physician entrepreneur.

4. The White Coat Investor Podcast: Although relatively new to the podcast world, Dr. James Dahle has helped thousands of doctors get a firm hold of their finances with his groundbreaking finance blog. Now through podcasting, you can get your financial advice on the go. This is the site I share with residents and young doctors to curtail their medical school loans.

5. Physicians Practice Podcast: I may write for this website, but it would be a disservice to not highlight the wealth of information freely available for both young and old practicing physicians. The host, Gabriel Perna, does a great job bringing together information that is essential for today's doctors. From practice policy, to the latest news on the Affordable Care Act (ACA), make sure you download a few episodes before your next commute.

Read the original post:
Listen Up! Podcasts for Physicians - Diagnostic Imaging (blog)

Japanese monk Seigaku lives a Zen life with as little money as possible in Berlin. The desire for popularity led Seitaro Higuchi from Tottori on the Sea of Japan to Germanys capital, transforming himself along the way. He had sought to become an actor and instead became a monk. How did this come about?

I wanted to be popular with girls, Seigaku says over the phone, laughing. He is speaking from Kyoto, where he is shooting a movie over two months in summer.

As fate would have it, the 36-year-old monk is now also an actor, playing the role of a monk who was a student of poet Matsuo Basho in a fictional documentary by Swiss filmmaker Richard Dindo.

The documentary traces the life and times of the famous poet, who has since become famous for his haiku verses. Dindo wanted to use real monks in his production and so chose Seigaku to play the role of the student and another higher-ranking monk from a temple in Kyoto to play Basho.

Seigaku, who spends most of the year in Berlin since moving there in 2011, has quite a story to tell.

Born Seitaro Higuchi, he became a Zen monk at the age of 23 after graduating from Keio University with a degree in politics.

I couldnt find a reason to work for capitalism, he recalls, thinking back to his final years at university. Instead, he was looking for something he felt would be more fulfilling.

There was also the desire for popularity. He wanted to be liked and decided to imitate someone who was already popular.

Noting that a popular senior student in his ice hockey team was also an actor, Higuchi seized his chance when a friend invited him to take part in a theater production produced by Yoko Narahashi.

The internationally renowned casting director and film producer also headed an English drama theater group for students at universities in and around Tokyo. Higuchi realized this offered him a great opportunity.

However, Higuchis enthusiasm was soon brought down to earth by Narahashi, who told him not to do anything in front of the camera. Narahashi told him he was doing too much and trying too hard, advising him to undo what he was doing. Such advice tore Higuchi apart.

Up to this point, I thought that we have a purpose in life, and that we have to find this purpose by doing the very best that we can, Higuchi recalls. It was difficult for me to change my mind-set.

At the time, Narahashi was working on The Last Samurai starring Tom Cruise. Higuchi wondered why such a popular actor was into samurai warriors. He realized that the Japanese kanji for samurai () contains two parts: human () and temple (). This connection between a samurai and Buddhist ways of thinking led him to develop an interest in Buddhism and Zen.

A cousin of Higuchis father was serving as a monk in a Zen temple and so he asked how best to practice Zen.

His distant relative told him the best way to practice is to become a monk. And so he did.

Higuchi decided to practice as a monk for one year at Eiheiji, one of two main temples of the Soto school of Zen Buddhism. Eiheiji is located in Fukui Prefecture.

He enjoyed living at Eiheiji very much, although life in the mountains was pretty ordinary. A typical day would consist of waking up, eating, cleaning, sitting and meditating (zazen), and sleeping. All these activities especially the cleaning routine (called samu) would be carried out with mindfulness as a part of Zen. One year at the temple turned into three years before he even knew it.

Higuchi, who had by now adopted the name Seigaku, went back to his former life in Tokyo only to realize that he needed money. He tried to earn the minimum amount needed to survive, working in an izakaya pub as a bartender and chef.

Once I earned the minimum amount, the amount I saved grew larger, he recalls. At the temple I hadnt used electric appliances like TVs, laptops, mobile phones and so on. Once I saved a little bit of money, I thought I should get a phone so that my friends would be able to communicate with me. The more I earned, the more I started living like I used to before I lived in the temple.

Eventually, he worked less and only practiced Zen. He shared an apartment with friends, where they would sit and meditate together.

His next goal would be to attempt living this kind of lifestyle in other parts of the world.

By living like this, I could prove that this way of life is OK, he says. The Zen way of life could therefore become an alternative way of life to capitalism.

Seigaku had planned to move to New York in April 2011, using a scholarship for monks from the Yokohama Zenkoji Scholarship Foundation for International Buddhist Study that would grant him 1 million for one year.

But then the March 2011 earthquake, tsunami and nuclear accident in Fukushima occurred and he changed his destination. Seigaku had just married and his wife was expecting their first child.

Nobody knew what would happen next. The situation was changing a lot, he recalls. When Germany decided to phase out its nuclear power plants, we chose to move to Berlin instead.

He arrived in Germany with his pregnant wife in May 2011. The scholarship helped them get their first apartment in Berlins Prenzlauer Berg neighborhood and his wife gave birth.

I like the relaxed atmosphere in Berlin a lot, Seigaku says. It feels like people dont seem to depend too much on capitalism and on the economy.

In Berlin, Seigaku has been meditating every day. He first did it in his apartment. Then, friends started to join him in his home. One day an attendant invited him to do it in his cafe, and the word started to spread.

For nearly two years, Seigaku has been holding zazen classes in a yoga studio, owned by another attendant, where students give donations. He also holds zazen workshops in a salon space called Ryoko that is run by Ryoko Hori and her partner, Daniel Kula. Likewise, participants dont pay a fee for the service but instead offer a donation.

Berlin has changed me, Seigaku says. Im healthier today. I have met many different people and become confident that the Zen way of living could be a real alternative for the next generation. That said, its always difficult and never stable.

Sometimes he goes to a square dressed in his black robes. He just sits there and places a bowl in front of him. Occasionally, people put food or money in his bowl.

I want to stay in Berlin because more and more people seem to be interested in my way of living, Seigaku says.

It does indeed seem that a life with less can be so much more.

Name: Seigaku (Seitaro Higuchi)

Profession: Zen monk

Born in: Singapore (My father was working as a teacher at a Japanese school at the time)

Grew up in: Tottori, Poland, U.K.

Age: 36

Key moments in career:

2001 Meets Yoko Narahashi

2007 Begins training as a monk in Eiheiji

2011 Marries and moves to Berlin

Things I miss about Japan: The clouds and the water

36

2001

2007

2011

20112011

Link:
Zen monk Seigaku: A life with less can be so much more - The Japan Times

Staff photo by Kathy Aney

Ron Haynes and Sally Ann Peters pose Wednesday with their water aerobics class at the Roundup Athletic Club. The two met at the class when Haynes started attending after suffering a stroke. Their wedding plans were interrupted a year ago when Peters had a stroke, too.

Stroke survivors Ron Haynes and Sally Ann Peters are helping each other stay afloat in troubled waters.

Haynes and Peters met at the swimming pool. On Friday afternoon, they exchanged vows as their water aerobics classmates looked on.

Haynes started going to the aqua class at the Roundup Athletic Club pool as a way to recuperate from a devastating stroke. The stroke hit seven years ago as the retired teacher slept on a cot in his wife Judys Oregon Health & Science University hospital room in Portland. Judy, recovering from cancer surgery, called a nurse when Ron fell ill.

The nurse got me into a wheelchair and wheeled me to the emergency department, recalled Haynes, 65. They determined I was having a stroke.

So began Haynes long journey back to health. The Pilot Rock man started going to the Pendleton pool as a low-impact way to get his body moving again. One day, Peters noticed Haynes was in a spot of trouble.

He slipped under the water, Peters said. I helped him up.

They became aqua buddies. Peters stayed close in case he foundered.

She kept an eye on me, Haynes said, as did the other class members and instructor Julie Sneden-Carlson.

We are truly a community in here, Sneden-Carlson said of her class. We share each others joys and sorrows.

The class fluctuates between 25 and 35. Its an easygoing group. Sneden-Carlson keeps them moving during each session, but before and after and even during, her charges share each others lives. The class grieved with Haynes, for example, when his wife died of congestive heart failure last April.

Peters and Haynes friendship deepened further as time went on, bonded in part by life experiences they share in common. Both had divorced in their younger years, then married again. Each lost a second spouse to death. Haynes, who grew up in California, the son of a school administrator, taught history and business at Aloha High School near Portland. Peters, raised in Pomeroy, Washington, grew up on a wheat farm, attended secretarial school and finished out her career as the head of the human resources department at the Lourdes Health Network in Pasco. Haynes has a son and Peters has two daughters.

Last summer, the swimmers say love blossomed in earnest.

Things went really fast, Haynes said of their romance. From July 3 on, we were an item.

The rest of the class detected smiles and whispers between the two. One day last summer, Sneden-Carlson noticed the couple was holding hands underwater.

We watched love bloom, said Helen Gowan, who attends the water aerobics classes three times a week. It was heartwarming to see.

When Haynes eventually asked Peters to marry him, she said yes. The couple planned to tie the knot at the Episcopal Church of the Redeemer in Pendleton in November of 2016. Then, a month before the nuptials, on October 11, the unexpected happened Peters suffered a stroke, too.

She was loaded aboard an airplane bound for Providence St. Vincent Medical Center in Portland. At the St. Vincent emergency room, Peters had a second stroke. Eventually, she ended up in College Place at Regency at the Park care center where she struggled to regain her health. Wedding plans went on hold.

Aqua class friends responded with cards, visits to Peters and rides to class for Haynes. When Peters transferred to Elizabethan Manor in Pendleton, Haynes decided he would move there, too, to be with her. The decision meant he needed to give away his beloved springer spaniel, P.J. The dog found a home with water aerobics friend Grace Nelson.

It was a total act of love, Nelson said of Haynes decision to give away his dog. It was devastating for Ron.

On Friday, P.J. was in attendance when Haynes and Peters exchanged vows in Elizabethan Manors dining room. The ceremony, called a ceremony of commitment, stops just short of a traditional wedding. While the ceremony contains all the religious elements, there is no legal involvement by the state. The ceremony offered a way to be blessed by the church, but doesnt affect the couple financially as they work to pay their medical bills.

The couple will honeymoon at Wildhorse Resort, a gift from the water aerobics class. Afterwards, the pair will settle into a life focused on each other and the long slog of recovering from their respective strokes. Sally Ann has one goal she hopes to accomplish before long.

I want to get back in the pool, she said.

As the couple heads into the next leg of their journey together, they know one thing the water aerobics class will have their backs.

Contact Kathy Aney at kaney@eastoregonian.com or call 541-966-0810.

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Couple bonded by water aerobics and strokes - East Oregonian (subscription)

Theres something about a swimming pool that can transport you back to languid childhood days spent splashing about, making up games and twisting your body into crazy shapes. Aqua-fitness classes, consequently, are a super-fun and sometimes nostalgic way to get an intense workout.

What started off as a low-impact way for old-age pensioners to stay in shape has been transformed into a full-blown trend that includes props, such as bikes and weights, and exercise routines recreated specifically for the water, such as Zumba and spinning.

The added advantage of replicating vertical movements running, jumping, kicking and even boxing under water is that you are using its natural resistance to amp up your workout. At the same time, the pressure protects your joints and minimises the risk of injury. Furthermore, the buoyancy improves balance, stabilises blood circulation and removes some of the negative impact that we place on our own water-heavy bodies, as we can become up to 90 per cent lighter when submerged. Aqua-based fitness classes are also a great way to exercise outdoors during the sweltering summer months.

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According to a report by Harvard Health Publications, a 30-minute aqua-aerobics session can burn between 120 and 178 calories for people who weigh between 57 kilograms and 84kg.

There are a number of aqua-fitness activities currently on offer in Abu Dhabi and Dubai. Sessions last for about 45 minutes and cost from Dh75 per class.

Aqua Zumba

While music features in most fitness classes, the peppiness stakes are raised by several notches in an aqua Zumba session. As Abu Dhabi-based instructor Roula Saleh puts it: Every class feels like a party. The workout itself involves classic Zumba dance moves, twists and stretches, all done while overcoming the natural resistance offered by water, which is about 800 times denser than air. Dubai-based instructor Jackie Miles Kirby tells The National: Every time you move a litre of water, you are moving a kilogram, in terms of resistance. You are also working the ligaments that are attached to the joints, so it encourages sleeker, smaller muscles. The other thing is that the water is self-massaging, so it helps to break down cellulite. There are aqua Zumba sessions available at select locations across Abu Dhabi and Dubai, including Dubai Ladies Club.

Aqua aerobics 2.0

The original water-based workout has now evolved to include full-body toning regimes, such as underwater boxing for slimmer arms; using the bed of the pool as a trampoline as you jump as high as you can without losing your balance on the way down; and running through water to execute kick-like movements on either end of the pool. Aqua aerobics classes typically use props such as pool noodles, foam dumb-bells, plastic balls and bar floats. While these are still around, the focus now is on pitting your own body weight against the water. In Abu Dhabi, aqua aerobics classes are held at Al Seef Mall, Oriental Spa and Inspire Sports, both at Al Bateen, and Cobra Fitness at Al Bandar. In Dubai, LAtelier Aquafitness on Al Wasl Road has a range of mixed-exercise classes, such as Aqua Swing, Aqua Functional and Aqua Circuit Training.

Aquatic shiatsu

Shiatsu, which means finger pressure in Japanese, is a relaxation technique that involves manually activating pressure points on the body, through massage and assisted stretching, to relieve tense joints. Its aqua form, Watsu, is one of the first water-based body therapies, and originated in the 1980s. Now LAtelier is offering one-on-one Watsu sessions to its clients, in which the receiver is cradled, rocked and stretched to mobilise the joints and relieve any aches, pains and knots, all while being supported to keep afloat, of course. We know this isnt technically a workout, but your body will definitely feel the benefits.

Aqua biking

Aqua bikes might not have fancy display screens or be able to monitor the distance you cover, but they are specially created to stand sturdily on the pool floor as you pedal against the pressure of the water. The low-impact, high-intensity workout can be done sitting or standing, depending on your strength and stamina. Riders are typically submerged up to chest level when seated. In Abu Dhabi, SeaTime holds Aqua Cycling classes at Al Raha Beach Hotel and the Hiltons beach club on the Corniche. In Dubai, Fairmont on the Palm offers Aquaspin classes, and LAtelier Aquafitness on Al Wasl Road has both Regular Aquabiking and non-stop Cardio Aquabiking classes for those with advanced fitness levels.

Float DXB

The latest aqua-related fitness concept to come to the UAE, Float DXB is more about balancing on the waters surface than being submerged under it. The 40-minute class involves burpees, lunges, squats, push-ups, planks and other high-intensity interval-training exercises, all performed while balancing on a floating device and trying to keep your core stable. Its not as unnerving as it (looks or) sounds, though, because the workout takes place on the ultra-sturdy Boga FitMat. The class was introduced at the Fitness First branch at the Meadows last month.

Read the original:

Our five favourite aqua-based fitness trends in the UAE - The National

Young North Public Schools senior aerobics group will be heading to the national aerobics championships this week on the Gold Coast in what has been another hugely successful year for the girls.

Young North Public Schools senior aerobics group will be heading to the national aerobics championships this week on the Gold Coast in what has been another hugely successful year for the girls.

The team, led by Young North Public School teacher Jessica Hardy, most recently performed at the 2017 Cherry Jam but the girls had massive success at the state finals coming in fifth overall in their division and making it to the National Championships to be held this week.

The girls werent alone in their success with the Junior girls also doing well coming home with the bronze from the state championships.

It was the Juniors first year sending a competition team, and the school said they were very proud of the performance as well as the behaviour of the students who took part.

The competition in both the senior and junior divisions was very close with the juniors only missing out on moving forward by one place.

In May the teams competed in their first competition for the year with the Junior team coming in a respectable fourth place and the seniors winning second making both teams eligible to compete in the state finals which were held in June.

Ms Hardy and the Junior squad have already set their sights on making it to Nationals next year.

The Senior aerobics team will be making the trek to the Gold Coast where they will compete against teams from all across the country. It is set to be a very tough competition but with the success of previous year's behind them, and a hard working and dedicated coach and parents, the community should be proud of the girls no matter the result at the end of the competition.

FIT AND FABULOUS: Young North Public School's Senior Aerobics team will be heading to the Gold Coast this week for the National Championships. Photo: Rebecca Hewson.

YNPS Aerobics.

Read more:

Aerobics champs - The Young Witness

Karma is not produced so much by a wrong kind of action as by the type of action which derives from a refusal to perform creative acts, when the need for them had come. Dane Rudhyar

Since Trumps election, the majority of my clients feel agitated, hopeless or haunted by a fuzzy, low-grade anxiety. To say thats understandable is a whopping understatement.

My initial response: Turn off, tune out and drop in. This is a distorted variation of Timothy Learys defining counterculture-era phrase from the 60s: Turn on, tune in, drop out

And heres what I mean:

I no longer hound dog the news, not because Im in denial, but the ongoing clusterfuck is too incestuous, too convoluted to unravel amidst the coming-at-you-every-five-minutes barrage of infoglut. It would take every iota of my psychic force to gain a sliver of objective truth and Ive other shit I want to do.

But this obsessive entanglement is what ensnares most folks: Once online their nervous system is tweaked, twanged and poked like a cyber-driven form of Chinese water torture. And theres a method to the madness.

Big media is complicit with Trump in myriad tacit ways. Trump is the grift that keeps on giving. As some internet advertising maven said once: Anger makes people click. Within our carnival culture, clicking means money.

Trump is one of the angriest human beings on earth (natal Mars in Leo is conjunct a Leo ascendant translated: righteous anger stoked by entitlement and a hybrid form of narcissism that has yet to be properly diagnosed).

And Americans are some of the angriest people on the planet. They are also in the era of the homogenous online hive mind desperate for acknowledgment, for some sense of being a unique individual so its a great match. People get the president they deserve or at the very least the president that mirrors their shadow.

My favorite form of self-torture is to trawl the comments section of any article I come across online. This is akin to flipping the lid up on the American Id.

Should the comments sections be uncensored, like, on Youtube, then OMG turn back! Or brace to be soaked in our cultures kookoo watering hole. The Internet has unleashed a Pandoras pox of rage and spread it virally into everyones home (and head). Historically this is unprecedented. But take heart. Amidst the horrors there are opportunities. Attached to full exposure is the potential for full illumination.

I do occasionally check in with three websites. Democracy Now, The Intercept (though I wish Glenn Greenwald had a mean editor) and a new site Im loving, The Outline (kind of like a non-puerile Gawker with political undertones and smart sardonic reporting). Those three sites give me enough info to have a cursory idea of the State of the Nation.

And then I get on with living.

The Shadow Knows

The mechanism of psychological projection works like this: The unconscious conjures an image related to some unsavory quality within the self and projects that image onto someone (or some condition, political party or ethnic group.) An adversarial relationship is established. The only way free from this position is through recollection. Reabsorption of the projection.

Projections are weird because usually intermixed with the projection is a lot of energy, passion and force. So when thats blasted out and lands on someone or something outside, a huge chunk of ones vitality is lost too.

Self-inquiry facilitates dissolving the realization that the projection is coming from inside ones own home.

After that insight, you can go to work on recollecting. Owning the projection to regain access to the psychic force that went missing. This is what maturation is all about. But with a Trickster like Trump at the helm, its doubly difficult to pause, evaluate and reclaim. But this is a necessary discipline should you wish to drop in on what youre interested in creating in life.

Which is really the point of this post. If you feel you want to do something more than react, rant and re-post articles from the New York Times about Trumps latest outrage, well, start recollecting. That method allows you to turn off and tune out. Youve made a clean break. Now you can DROP IN.

When a projection is owned, the rearrangement within the psyche creates a blank spot or hole within the fabric of ones familiar sense of self. This hole can act as a sort of portal into whatever youre wishing to align with or do or create in your life.

The quirky thing about projections: Not only does the projection rob you of vital force it acts as a distraction a way to avoid engaging with life because, well, Ive got so many fucking things I want to complain about!

When the complaining stops what do you do?

Drop into the hole and see where the portal leads you. If you need assistance book a session with me and well work it through.

You dont need to have all the specifics about what it is youll be involved with (or maybe you do maybe you want to take to the streets and protest, run for political office or just clean out your garage it doesnt matter.) What matters is that youve regained the drive for doing whatever. Youve dropped into your life and out of the swirling, distracting miasma of Trumplandia.

Good luck!

'Turn Off, Tune Out and Drop In'

June 29th, 2017

Its mid-year. How in the hell did that happen? (Time the revelator).

As I noted last year I havent had the time to compile music for a proper mix on Mixcloud. I miss doing that as the process is actually meditative but well, heres a bunch of tunes on Spotify. Ive been spinning this collection since the dawn of 2017. There are some rhyme and reasons to the order and flow though a lot of serendipity too.

Enjoy.

Opening graphic: Toilet Paper, vol. 12 cover by Maurizio Cattelan and Pierpaolo Ferrari.

'Mid-2017: Songs for the New Secession'

April 30th, 2017

Paul Horwich, in a long NY Times essay wrote:

The singular achievement of the controversial early 20th century philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein was to have discerned the true nature of Western philosophy what is special about its problems, where they come from, how they should and should not be addressed, and what can and cannot be accomplished by grappling with them. The uniquely insightful answers provided to these meta-questions are what give his treatments of specific issues within the subject concerning language, experience, knowledge, mathematics, art and religion among them a power of illumination that cannot be found in the work of others.

Wittgenstein isnt an easy immersion, but hes worth your effort because the more you study his philosophy which was actually, in spots, more akin to mysticism the more freedom you might gain as an astrologer.

Like the closet mystic Carl Jung, Wittgenstein knew how to couch his propositions to pass the scrutiny of his peers (well, except for his mentor Bertrand Russell who he drove to fury by disregarding traditional formulations of logic.)

And because of this sketchy dance, between chilly logic and the nimbus of mysticism, I find Wittgenstein to be the most satisfying of linguistic rebels. His mix of the effable with the ineffable mirrors in a direct way how human beings toil with making sense (or a muddle) of astrology. Read more

'Why Astrologers Need to Study Wittgenstein'

March 15th, 2017

The earth is littered with the ruins of empires that believed they were eternal. Camille Paglia

Dead men walking. Women marching. Alternative facts. Reality show presidents. Anti-Christ-Palooza. Terrorists and Tiaras. Bitcoin. Gold coins. NSA. GMOs. WTF.

Signs, symbols, and Zeitgeist stingers. Time traveling omens from Armageddon are the stock and trade of our modern day narrative. The stories and anxieties we lay down and fret about until the Ambien kicks in.

Doom tales monopolize our inner landscape because speeding up to the end means a new beginning is just around the corner. Or over the cliff. Thats one theory. The catch, of course, is the way we resist other narratives. Its wise now to think beyond the parameters of being a garden-variety human being.

This is the nut of the message from the ongoing transits of Neptune and Pluto through the closing section of the zodiac, while Uranus in short fuse Aries keeps broadcasting, Come on! Speed it up. (Or blow it up). Hurry! Go faster (and furiously.)

When food, money, energy and optimism are scarce we become attached to whatever sort of hoard (be it our meager amount in savings or the way Plutocrats hog all the wealth and investments in their seemingly exempt world) weve come to associate with as a means to see us through to the new phase. Or at the meanest level, its outsiders who are closing in on our turf and must be turned away.

So were looping right now. Sort of like the routine animals demonstrate before being eaten by a predator. Youve probably seen videos like this on those nature shows you watch on Youtube. The prey runs around and around in a hysterical circle before the killing bite is administered by the predator. Right?

This entire article is included in the new book Skywriter: Notes on Modern Astrology. Order below!

For the past ten years, Frederick Woodruffs AstroInquiry has become the go-to spot for readers in search of illuminating commentary on astrology, popular culture, spirituality and the pitfalls of New Age charlatanism.

Woodruffs 40-year career as a professional astrologer, artist, and pop-culture critic have honed a perspicacious writer who doesnt pull punches as he explores radical new views on astrology, the shortcomings of New Age magical thinking and the precarious minefield that dots our tech-obsessed cultural landscape.

Thankfully, hes funny and also keen on suggesting creative ways forward for everyone.

And now theres an e-book that collects Woodruffs most popular and provocative articles into one comprehensive and engaging book. You wont want to miss any of them!

This volume includes:

The Truth About Mercury Retrograde Planetary Ennui: The Nostalgia for Samsara and the Outer Planets How To Make Facebook Your Slave and Preserve Your Creative Drive The Power, Beauty, and Wonder of the Horoscopes 12th House Imbeciles at the Gate: How The Internet Destroys Astrology How To Escape From the Torture of Self-Help Hell Depression and the Solar Consciousness Secrets of the Heart: Love is an Action Not A Feeling Create Your Own Archetype & Call It You: An Escape from Evolutionary Astrology Redefining the Oxymoron of Sex and Marriage Death is the New Black How To Write About Astrology (Especially How Not To) Astrology, Ants, Hives, Essence, and Types: A Gurdjieffian View Final Notes About the Life-and-Culture-Changing Uranus-Pluto Square

Order your copy now!

'Outer Planet Transits & Nostalgia for Samsara'

Read the rest here:
Frederick Woodruff * Astrology * Gurdjieff * Fourth Way ...

The Fourth Way is an approach to self-development described by George Gurdjieff which he developed over years of travel in the East (c. 1890 - 1912). It combines and harmonizes what he saw as three established traditional "ways" or "schools": those of the mind, emotions, and body, or of yogis, monks, and fakirs respectively. Students often refer to the Fourth Way as "The Work", "Work on oneself," or "The System". The exact origins of some of Gurdjieff's teachings are unknown, but people have offered various sources.[1]

The term "Fourth Way" was further used by his student P. D. Ouspensky in his lectures and writings. After Ouspensky's death, his students published a book entitled The Fourth Way based on his lectures.

According to this system, the three traditional schools, or ways, "are permanent forms which have survived throughout history mostly unchanged, and are based on religion. Where schools of yogis, monks or fakirs exist, they are barely distinguishable from religious schools. The fourth way differs in that "it is not a permanent way. It has no specific forms or institutions and comes and goes controlled by some particular laws of its own."[2]

When this work is finished, that is to say, when the aim set before it has been accomplished, the fourth way disappears, that is, it disappears from the given place, disappears in its given form, continuing perhaps in another place in another form. Schools of the fourth way exist for the needs of the work which is being carried out in connection with the proposed undertaking. They never exist by themselves as schools for the purpose of education and instruction.[3]

The Fourth Way addresses the question of humanity's place in the Universe and the possibilities of inner development. It emphasizes that people ordinarily live in a state referred to as a semi-hypnotic "waking sleep," while higher levels of consciousness, virtue, unity of will are possible.

The Fourth Way teaches how to increase and focus attention and energy in various ways, and to minimize day-dreaming and absent-mindedness. This inner development in oneself is the beginning of a possible further process of change, whose aim is to transform man into "what he ought to be."

Gurdjieff's followers believed he was a spiritual master,[4] a human being who is fully awake or enlightened. He was also seen as an esotericist or occultist.[5] He agreed that the teaching was esoteric but claimed that none of it was veiled in secrecy but that many people lack the interest or the capability to understand it.[6] Gurdjieff said, "The teaching whose theory is here being set out is completely self supporting and independent of other lines and it has been completely unknown up to the present time."[citation needed]

The Fourth Way teaches that humans are not born with a soul and are not really conscious but only believe they are. A person must create a soul by following a teaching which can lead to this aim, or else "die like a dog". Humans are born asleep, live in sleep and die in sleep, only imagining that they are awake.[7] The ordinary waking "consciousness" of human beings is not consciousness at all but merely a form of sleep.

Gurdjieff taught "sacred dances" or "movements", now known as Gurdjieff movements, which they performed together as a group.[8] He left a body of music, inspired by that which he had heard in remote monasteries and other places, which was written for piano in collaboration with one of his pupils, Thomas de Hartmann.[9]

Gurdjieff taught that traditional paths to spiritual enlightenment followed one of three ways:

Gurdjieff insisted that these paths - although they may intend to seek to produce a fully developed human being - tend to cultivate certain faculties at the expense of others. The goal of religion or spirituality was, in fact, to produce a well-balanced, responsive and sane human being capable of dealing with all eventualities that life may present. Gurdjieff therefore made it clear that it was necessary to cultivate a way that integrated and combined the traditional three ways.

Gurdjieff said that his Fourth Way was a quicker means than the first three ways because it simultaneously combined work on all three centers rather than focusing on one. It could be followed by ordinary people in everyday life, requiring no retirement into the desert. The Fourth Way does involve certain conditions imposed by a teacher, but blind acceptance of them is discouraged. Each student is advised to do only what they understand and to verify for themselves the teaching's ideas.

Ouspensky documented Gurdjieff as saying that "two or three thousand years ago there were yet other ways which no longer exist and the ways now in existence were not so divided, they stood much closer to one another. The fourth way differs from the old and the new ways by the fact that it is never a permanent way. It has no definite forms and there are no institutions connected with it."[10]

Ouspensky quotes Gurdjieff that there are fake schools and that "It is impossible to recognize a wrong way without knowing the right way. This means that it is no use troubling oneself how to recognize a wrong way. One must think of how to find the right way."[11]

In his works, Gurdjieff credits his teachings to a number of more or less mysterious sources:[12]-

Attempts to fill out his account have featured:

The Fourth Way focuses on "conscious labor" and "intentional suffering."

Conscious Labor is an action where the person who is performing the act is present to what he is doing; not absentminded. At the same time he is striving to perform the act more efficiently.

Intentional suffering is the act of struggling against automatism such as daydreaming, pleasure, food (eating for reasons other than real hunger), etc... In Gurdjieff's book Beelzebub's Tales he states that "the greatest 'intentional suffering' can be obtained in our presences by compelling ourselves to endure the displeasing manifestations of others toward ourselves"[19]

To Gurdjieff these two were the basis of all evolution of man.

Self-Observation

This is to strive to observe in oneself behavior and habits usually only observed in others, and as dispassionately as one may observe them in others, to observe thoughts, feelings, and sensations without judging or analyzing what is observed.[20]

The Need for Effort

Gurdjieff emphasized that awakening results from consistent, prolonged effort. Such efforts may be made as an act of will after one is already exhausted.

The Many 'I's

This indicates fragmentation of the psyche, the different feelings and thoughts of I in a person: I think, I want, I know best, I prefer, I am happy, I am hungry, I am tired, etc. These have nothing in common with one another and are unaware of each other, arising and vanishing for short periods of time. Hence man usually has no unity in himself, wanting one thing now and another, perhaps contradictory, thing later.

Centers

Gurdjieff classified plants as having one center, animals two and humans three. Centers refer to apparati within a being that dictate specific organic functions. There are three main centers in a man: intellectual, emotional and physical, and two higher centers: higher emotional and higher intellectual.

Body, Essence and Personality

Gurdjieff divided people's being into Essence and Personality.

Cosmic Laws

Gurdjieff focused on two main cosmic laws, the Law of Three and the Law of Seven[citation needed].

How the Law of Seven and Law of Three function together is said to be illustrated on the Fourth Way Enneagram, a nine-pointed symbol which is the central glyph of Gurdjieff's system.

In his explanations Gurdjieff often used different symbols such as the Enneagram and the Ray of Creation. Gurdjieff said that "the enneagram is a universal symbol. All knowledge can be included in the enneagram and with the help of the enneagram it can be interpreted ... A man may be quite alone in the desert and he can trace the enneagram in the sand and in it read the eternal laws of the universe. And every time he can learn something new, something he did not know before."[21] The ray of creation is a diagram which represents the Earth's place in the Universe. The diagram has eight levels, each corresponding to Gurdjieff's laws of octaves.

Through the elaboration of the law of octaves and the meaning of the enneagram, Gurdjieff offered his students alternative means of conceptualizing the world and their place in it.

To provide conditions in which attention could be exercised more intensively, Gurdjieff also taught his pupils "sacred dances" or "movements" which they performed together as a group, and he left a body of music inspired by what he heard in visits to remote monasteries and other places, which was written for piano in collaboration with one of his pupils, Thomas de Hartmann.

Gurdjieff laid emphasis on the idea that the seeker must conduct his or her own search. The teacher cannot do the student's work for the student, but is more of a guide on the path to self-discovery. As a teacher, Gurdjieff specialized in creating conditions for students - conditions in which growth was possible, in which efficient progress could be made by the willing. To find oneself in a set of conditions that a gifted teacher has arranged has another benefit. As Gurdjieff put it, "You must realize that each man has a definite repertoire of roles which he plays in ordinary circumstances ... but put him into even only slightly different circumstances and he is unable to find a suitable role and for a short time he becomes himself."

Having migrated for four years after escaping the Russian Revolution with dozens of followers and family members, Gurdjieff settled in France and established his Institute for the Harmonious Development of Man at the Chteau Le Prieur at Fontainebleau-Avon in October 1922.[22] The institute was an esoteric school based on Gurdjieff's Fourth Way teaching. After nearly dying in a car crash in 1924, he recovered and closed down the Institute. He began writing All and Everything. From 1930, Gurdjieff made visits to North America where he resumed his teachings.

Ouspensky relates that in the early work with Gurdjieff in Moscow and Saint Petersburg, Gurdjieff forbade students from writing down or publishing anything connected with Gurdjieff and his ideas. Gurdjieff said that students of his methods would find themselves unable to transmit correctly what was said in the groups. Later, Gurdjieff relaxed this rule, accepting students who subsequently published accounts of their experiences in the Gurdjieff work.

After Gurdjieff's death in 1949 a variety of groups around the world have attempted to continue The Gurdjieff Work. The Gurdjieff Foundation, was established in 1953 in New York City by Jeanne de Salzmann in cooperation with other direct pupils.[23]J. G. Bennett ran groups and also made contact with the Subud and Sufi schools to develop The Work in different directions. Maurice Nicoll, a Jungian psychologist, also ran his own groups based on Gurdjieff and Ouspensky's ideas. The French institute was headed for many years by Madam de Salzmann - a direct pupil of Gurdjieff. Under her leadership, the Gurdjieff Societies of London and New York were founded and developed.

There is debate regarding the ability to use Gurdjieff's ideas through groups. Some critics believe that none of Gurdjieff's students were able to raise themselves to his level of understanding. Proponents of the continued viability of Gurdjieff's system, and its study through the use of groups, however, point to Gurdjieff's insistence on the training of initiates in interpreting and disseminating the ideas that he expressed cryptically in Beelzebub's Tales to His Grandson. This, combined with Gurdjieff's almost fanatical dedication to the completion of this text (Beelzebub's Tales), suggest that Gurdjieff himself intended his ideas to continue to be practiced and taught long after his death. Other proponents of continuing the Work are not concerned with external factors, but focus on the inner results achieved through a sincere practice of Gurdjieff's system.

In contrast, some former Gurdjieffians joined other movements,[24][25] and there are a number of offshoots, and syntheses incorporating elements of the Fourth Way, such as:

The Enneagram is often studied in contexts that do not include other elements of Fourth Way teaching.

The rest is here:
Fourth Way - Wikipedia

This site, and the content herein except where noted, was created byAsaf Braverman. The posts are written by Asaf and several guest contributors.Asaf takes responsibility for any points of view expressed on this site, originating as they do, from his own experience with the Fourth Way and his own study of ancient wisdom.

After the deaths of Gurdjieff and Ouspensky, students in Washington and New York continue, as best as they can, experimenting with Fourth Way principles. America now enters the post World War II era, characterized by the breaking down of form and the emergence of the Hippie movement. It is a decade ripe for esotericism and spirituality. Gurdjieffs student William Nyland connects with the young generation of people reacting to the increasingly materialist values of the postwar world.

The old image of teacher infallibility and the best of all schools has worn thin. It does not correspond to the modes of thought in a society where uncertainty and hazard are seen to be the price of existence itself. The school must be seen as a community that has undertaken an almost impossible task of producing a new type of man that will be needed to cope with the predicted world crises for the next hundred years. The image of the Temple of Wisdom must be replaced by that of Noahs Ark riding the flood. Unless awareness of social needs and the awakening of social conscience are recognized respectively as the beginning and end of the educational process, there is little hope for the future. J G Bennett

William Nylands circle includes Alexander Francis Horn, a teacher of theatre, dramatist, and playwright. Horn learns more about the Fourth Way from J.G. Bennets New York groups, from the Gurdjieff Foundation, as well as from Rodney Collin himself, whom he visits in Mexico. Upon Collins death, Horn is dissatisfied with the condition in which he finds the Gurdjieff Foundation (now institutionalized without its founder). He recommends that Lord Pentland disband it.

Horn establishes the Theatre of All Possibilities and incorporates Fourth Way principles into his theatrical work. Horns methods are severe, forcing his students to work on themselves by subjecting them to pressure and charging them with large demands. His plays In Search for a Solar Hero and Ponderings of a Citizen of the Milky Way sum the ideals of the sixties, ideals which that decade never fully attains. Yet in so doing, Horn translates and transports Gurdjieffs work to a new generation.

Horn moves his group to San Francisco, where he meets and marries actress Sharon Ganz. The Theatre of All Possibilities is eventually taken over by Sharon, forcing Horn to return to New York. As the flower children turn into the increasingly materially prosperous baby-boomers, the spirit of the sixties is extinguished. Alexander Horns teaching splits, his wife taking the more active role with the groups, while he continues working with a smaller circle of students until his death in 2007.

Esotericism inevitably flounders and degenerates in the course of time, giving rise to the need for the esoteric impulse to be constantly revivified and redefined. Alexander Francis Horn

Robert Burton joins the Theatre of All Possibilities in 1967 in San Francisco. He dedicates himself to Alexander Horns work, in which he learns the principles of the Fourth Way as expressed by Horn, as well as reads the extensive literature left by Gurdjieff, Ouspensky and Collin.

Burton leaves Horn in 1969, and establishes the Fellowship of Friends in 1970. In 1971, Burton purchases property in the Sierra Foothills and establishes the heart of his school. Outlying centres spring up in Carmel, San Francisco, Los Angles, San Diego, and then throughout the United States. In the 1980s, he sends his students to open centers abroad, and the Fellowship draws students interested in the Fourth Way internationally.

Burton departs from Horns severe methods. He uses, as his foundation, the Fourth Way as expressed by Gurdjieff, Ouspensky and Collin. In the 1990s his teaching gradually assumes its own hue, as he blends it with earlier expressions of ancient wisdom. His work and organization grow to an international scale and attract more students, as well as criticism, mostly from former members of his organization.

As of 2015, the Fellowship of Friends still resides in the Sierra Foothills, under the direction of Robert Burton.

The work never belongs to anyone. The same esoteric knowledge belongs to all schools, which, in fact, are the same school. Robert Earl Burton

And so ends the arguable history of the Fourth Way as it manifests in the 20th century. Arguable, I say, because many will claim that it ended with Gurdjieffs death in 1949, denouncing even Peter Ouspensky from the title of heir to its spirit (let alone giving any credit to the later generations of Nyland, Horn and Burton). History is, inevitably, an inexact science, one subject to the interpretation of the historian. But since those interested in Gurdjieff who has passed away may find interest in his influence which stays on I have here given its outline as best as I could.

I encountered the Fourth Way in 1995, joining Burtons Fellowship of Friends, and am still a member of that organization. I moved to the California headquarters in 2000 and began working closely with Burton on his teaching. In 2007, I was forced to set out on a two year journey, which brought me in contact with the origin of the ancient wisdom that I had been previously studying in theory.I traveled to all the major ancient sites of the world, spanning Asia, Europe, the Middle East, Central and South America.

Those two years of travel were an odyssey a genuine encounter with the miraculous which is always bitter-sweet and involves as much payment as it bestows reward. The experience was proof, if any were needed, that the spirit of ancient wisdom is as alive and accessible today as it ever was in previous days. The spark didnt leave with Gurdjieffs departure nor had it arrived only when he set foot on the stage. But to tell more than this would require telling a whole story which I am in the process of writing.

Original post:
Backstage | Gurdjieff Becoming Conscious