Walkabout Liberation: Jan Tijmes' The John Positive Co. org

Confession: Releasing Doubt, Understanding the Why, & Increasing Clarity

2011-11-12T12:01:00.000-08:00

Confession

Dear Positive Path, family, and friends,

Last Wednesday, I found myself in a real internal fight against myself. I had said the next Positive Path would be November 9^th. And here it was. November 9^th with no email and no desire to provide the call.

3 days would passed, ending with late last night, where I questioned everything about myself, the Path, the services I provide, the upcoming Austin meditation retreat, and the upcoming Centerpoint class in Houston.

I was lost. I had no clarity.

Why was I doing this? Was it for ego? Name or Fame? I had completely forgotten.

I was back at the retreat center in Pine, AZ fresh from having spent 5 days with me girlfriend and her two daughters. A balance was missing. Work, meditation, the activities I usually take part in… and now… a new life- one involving a beautiful woman and her two girls. And I found that the lack of clarity had to do with my business plan (finances), and it was trickling into everything else.

I decided that night to let go of the Path call. It would be the first time in 1.5 years that I’d turn my back on it altogether without saying anything.

The next day while working outside, I was busy in my mind, lost in more of this confusion when I stepped back into an Agave plant. Its sharp thorny leafs softly melted through my back leg, above the Achilles heal. The thorn touched the bone; I fell over yelping like a baby elk. I managed to continue working for a few hours before calling it a day. By evening the lower leg had swollen into a fatty mass, and with it came deep signs of release- fever symptoms and the most doubt and confusion I had felt in a long time.

I wanted to cry, but I didn’t know why. I wanted answers but I didn’t know to what questions. A fat blockage had arisen, and with it, a desire to leave it all behind and quit everything John Positive.

I stepped into an Herb Shop the next morning to ask questions and I was told something quite interesting. An Agave plant spends 7 years growing into a mature plant before taking all its energy to grow a stalk that flowers like a lovely desert Yucca. After which time, it begins to die off. But not before giving birth to a few babies that feed off her for some time.

The Herbalist told me it was quite auspicious that I had gotten pricked by the Agave. It opened a doorway for me to get really clear on why I was doing this spiritual work for others and what it should look like. She said the Agave essence is great for those who have done lots of work but never been appreciated for the work that’s been done. It’s also great for rooting or grounding. Agave babies can rarely be pulled from the ground, because their fat deep roots ground it to the earth with a magnificent act of force. And I’d felt a loss of grounding in recent weeks.

My leg continued to swell until I found myself limping like a cripple for Thursday evening and all of Friday. It was very humbling. No matter how fast I wanted to go, I was limited by this leg. The same leg that was involved in the car accident of 2005 and multiple accidents since then. It’s clear there are still lessons to be learned regarding slowing down, peace, and being in my body.

By Friday I began meditating and praying for answers to the question, “WHY!!? Oh Why am I doing this. Please bring me clarity. Oh Higher Self, oh Angels, may this spiritual clarity come swiftly.”

And so the messages began. The biggest issue was that I had been living my life for years alone, by myself, and now I found myself in a relationship with 3 new people, potentially having to care for them financially in the coming months if it continues to develop. I realized that I was afraid that my personal clarity wasn’t large enough for 4 people. So my entire being collapsed. And the Agave blessing gave me a few days to sit still and figure it all out.

I called my girlfriend that afternoon, and found myself bursting into tears when I shared with her that my clarity wasn’t big enough for her and the girls. What a release. Within an hour, an auric umbrella appeared in my mind’s eye that would cover her and the girls. A field that told me my clarity was finally beginning to grow. Friday evening, 11/11/11, I sat still in meditation after returning to the arms of my girlfriend outside Sedona, and the final message came to be:

“A Path is something so individual. I am on a path to feel peaceful, be peaceful, and balanced each moment of the day. It is challenging. I cannot claim to heal anyone, but I work at healing myself each day. I love this work for myself. I do it for me. It was the first thing I fell in love with following the car accident, and it’s the one thing I’ll continue enjoying until the day I die.

People around me are also individuals with their own paths. If someone asks for my help, then what I can do is guide them with context based on where I’ve already been. If they’re curious, in need of guidance, wanting to know where to begin, or how to clear out something that’s arisen in life, then I can possibly help. But I do this because it is for me. I am selfish. Yet in this act of helping, magic arises, and a healing energy stream comes in to begin healing both you and me on the exact same issue. This makes the work so much fun.

Life is all a release, and I appear to be in a lifetime of liberation, as this is what I enjoy doing most. And since this is what I naturally enjoy doing, this is also what I can naturally help a person with. I don’t have it all figured out. Far from it. But every waking second I work on it, cause it’s the most exciting thing for me to do. And this curiosity of life I share openly with you if you can meet me halfway.”

Clarity came. All I ask is to be in a more humble state and never act as if I have it all figured out again. I am a stupid, ignorant person just like the next guy. But asking “why is this”, “how can I”, “what’s the reason that”, and the like are the most valuable things to ask each day. These questions, along with the subsequent daily meditations, cause life to evolve at a quick pace, oftentimes bringing me into people’s lives just as fast as out. Nothing lasts. And yet, sometimes, something lasts a little longer, and I get to enjoy some ‘normalcy’.

So back to the Path.

I apologize for missing the last call. I now know why I originally wanted to do the calls. It’s cause I enjoy personal development more than anything else. It’s my main passion. And I like sharing this passion. And if I like sharing it, then that puts me into a curious, explorative state- never acting like the know-it-all- but rather, being open to new ideas.

Yet have I been fully open?

No.

I have many times offered the Path with a ‘teacher approach’ that had me feel uneasy. I wasn’t getting too much out of the calls, cause I wasn’t open to the Divine Stick that throws itself into the spokes of life to kick us off our seats, scrape our faces, and cause us to see something new. Pain tends to do this. Pain can be emotional or physical. Maybe I was trying to avoid this pain.

This week I was blessed with both types, and this brought beautiful growth. By Friday evening I could see I was not this doubt energy. I was not this ‘lack of clarity’ energy. I was a Being inside a body experiencing this energy arise in its mind. And it won’t be the last time either.

I will now begin offering the Path calls on my time, whenever I feel inspired to offer them. This my amount to once per month. And I promise to guide them in a way where there is some ‘template’, yet plenty of room for me to be just as much the student as the teacher. I learn from each and every one of you. I thank you for all having been in my life these past 2 years.

If there is anything you would like to see on the Path, in spiritual services or retreats, or in personal development classes, please pass them along. If there are specific blocks in your life you’d like help with, pass them along. It’s nice to understand where everyone is. I love observing life and human nature.

I will close this off by saying that I now have a family I must take care of. The services I provide, as well as the upcoming retreat in Austin, are done for one reason- cause I love to do this work for myself. Because I enjoy doing it so much, then helping someone else on Their path offers me one more chance to do more work on myself. See how selfish I am? :)

I must be more respectful of Money Energy and the time I have to provide these services. My prices are shifting somewhat to accommodate the lower range of clients and to bring in a lot more foundational shifts into people’s lives at the higher end of the services. So you’ll see prices range from $100 for one-on-one sessions up to $500 for 30-day courses and future 10-day retreats.

I put a lot into sessions, because I ‘somewhat’ understand the power of this universe. I hope to help you feel and know this power for yourself, so you also know how important this Peace is for our psyche, our families, our communities, our careers, and humanity. The best is yet to come, and I hope to help any and all of you who request help!

The Austin retreat will offer 2 options: a 3-day weekend (Friday Dec 2 thru Sunday Dec 4) for $200 or a full 10-day retreat (Friday Dec 2 thru Sunday Dec 11^th) for $350, and this retreat is offered for a primary reason- cause I LOVE to meditate cause it releases SO much of what I don’t want in life. It feels amazing! And life is always easier after completing a course. Ok… and…. Cause I love sharing this incredible course with others who are also curious about improving their lives.

If you are interested in really making a dent in your life’s level of awareness and self-mastery, then join us Friday December 2^nd in the Austin/ San Antonia, TX area where we’ve secured a 3-bedroom home to meditate Vipassana New World’s 2^nd 10-day Executive Retreat. It is challenging, but it is life-changing.

May God bless you on your Path. Your Light is bright. All of our lights are bright. We are all blessed; each one of us equally. We are all One.

To your Liberation and eternal happiness,

Your friend on the Path,

Jan

www.VipassanaNewWorld.org

www.Houston-Spiritual-Healing.com

The "I Love" Command

2011-08-24T06:18:00.000-07:00

Dear Positive Path,

Wednesday we’ll take part in manifesting a loving life through the “I Love” command. Every thought is a creation. Every thought manifests something and creates a ripple in life. It starts with noticing, then Accepting.

We’ll be in the Acceptance stage (notice we spend most our time here) on Wednesday, learning how to Accept and Love everything in our lives. “I Love…” works in extraordinary ways.

What if there wasn’t a word for ‘hate’? What if there was only the word “Love” in your vocabulary? Wednesday we’ll practice this. It comes from the delightful teachings of Zig Ziglar. See his fun 10min YouTube at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=voz4WHujv6Y.

Speaking out loud has a power to it like no other. Feeling down? It’s cause of a lack of acceptance of what it.

So start saying out loud, “I Love…whatever challenge I’m having right now.” And keep going. Say things you love that you really love and say things you love that you may not actually love. It’ll make you laugh and realize how silly this attachment in the mind ego. The ego’s been found out! And we’ll shine that spotlight on it Wednesday, Aug 24^th at 7:30pm Houston time.

Phone Number to Call:

605-477-2100, Access Code email JohnPositive at Live.com, *6 Mute/ Unmute

Listen to Recorded Conference: (605) 477-2199, Access Code: email JohnPositive at Live.com

Have an extraordinary week!

Jan

I Love that my mind kicks into high gear 5 minutes after I wake up. I love stubbing my toe. I love my mom. I love my cat, Sammie, I love my body. I love that my heart still has so many tears in it. I love getting paid for what I love to do. I love feeling groggy in the morning. I love the people I meet each day. I love driving in traffic. I love eating breakfast slowly. I love smelling a hamburger even though I’m allergic to them. Heck, I love being allergic to hamburgers! I love hearing someone’s life story. I love connecting with people’s hearts. I love to meditate and feel calming peace. I love playing each day. I love sitting in morning meetings. And I love that I have trouble letting myself play.

None of us are perfect. But we have to Accept what is. Can you feel the acceptance of Life? Pretty soon, we really do start loving it. Come practice this Wednesday, August 24^th.

The Nice Guy and the Bad Boys

2011-08-18T21:08:00.000-07:00

The Nice Guy and the Bad Boys

It’s apparent I used, I abused, I swindled,

The women of the past, their fires I kindled.

Mind of lust, I’d act innocent and coy,

They would selflessly give, like a mommy to her boy.

I moved to the groove in the bed so shrewd,

The ladies lined up, bag of tricks, in the nude.

But the bottom fell out when the King took note,

Of his heir to the throne, yelling, “Off with his throat!”

To this day I repent everywhere I’ve went,

Those that I loved, no longer are sent.

To the ones, they flock, like my former self,

Bad boys with the cock; twinkling eyes like the elf.

Cause/ Effect is a curse; if I play the blame game,

Taste remains unchanged of the darling’s remains.

The soul moved on; joyfully and filled,

But the mind of the past, thirsts for those that it thrilled.

Who then, do they send, and who’s drawn to this Sage?

It’s the same, without pain, now twice that in age.

Tides, they have turned, help me follow my soul

To the land of Peace, which the mind don’t control.

Inspired by Warren Buffet’s quote, “Every saint has a past, and every sinner has a future,” and the string of girls drawn to bad boys that I’ve fallen for these past 6 years. Thank you for the incredible lessons learned and the insights into my own past. We shall meet again in 20 years. This nice guy officially accepts he is a nice guy, and he knows how to patiently lie in wait.

I give in, Universe. I am Justin Timberlake. I accept. Let me learn from your wise ways. Turn that tide; it’s obvious it’s your turn to enjoy me. Are you listening?

time to Love~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I love my life.

I love my freedom to move around at will.

I love that my needs are always met.

I love that I work with clients who resonate perfectly with me.

I Love that angels send me perfect ladies who match perfectly with my heart and life needs.

I love that I can travel whenever I want to.

I love that I get to work outdoors.
I love that I abused my power and mis-led people in past lives.
I love that I've dealt with depression for decades.
I love to meditate.

I love having a “boss” who believes it’s more important for me to be blissful and happy in the moment than to be perfectly finishing a job on time.

I love having a “boss” who lets me practice personal growth and freedom throughout each day in work and in play.

I love living on the land and in homes, wherever I am, wherever I rome.

I love being able to practice guitar, singing, songwriting, and loving energy connection for a show performance.

I love living simply.

I love things coming into and out of my life effortlessly.

I love the divine flow happening in my life at all times.

I love the people I come in contact with each day.

I love that I get paid for what I love to do.

I love receiving money through Paypal.

I love depositing money into my account for the amazing sessions I provide.

I love working with the angels to provide loving sessions for people’s guidance.

I love becoming more sincere each day.

I love honoring my body and mind’s needs for purity and health.

I love hearing the messages of the angels.

I love being humble and gentle.

I love being flexible and strong.

I love healing people with the angels.

I love coaching people and helping them know their answers clearly. I don’t solve anything. I offer a divine space to allow for their Truths to reveal themselves.

I love the incredible family I come from.

I love my loving heart.

I love this body.

I love my loving mom.

I love the exact way my father acts.

I love all my former bosses and co-workers.

I love the car I drive and shoes I wear.

I love the air I breathe.

I love the lack of definition of my body’s muscles.

I love how my nose gets burned easily.

I love my cat when he gets anxious for me attention.

I love how my bank account fluctuates with money- up and down.

I love how everyone I meet has a smile on their face.

I love that I was in a near-death car accident.

I love all the ladies I have made love to.

I love swimming and doing water aerobics.

I love staring at my face in the mirror until it dissolves.

I love this moment.
I love how the body follows the mind.
I love that I am nothing.

I love feeling not so good.

I love feeling good!

I love catching insects in my home and placing them gently outside.

I love the amount of attachment my mind has.

I love how each country is like a parallel dimension.

I love how there’s the truth, and then there’s the Truth.
I love how this mind is finally beginning to listen to the higher needs of this soul.

I love me.

And I love you!!!!

I Count My Blessings. (Click for little acoustic strumming tune by yours truly.)

"Lover, I await the day,
when good fortune comes our way,
And we'll ride down the King's Highway,
Yea, yea."

Arizona is Home, Being Authentic, and the New Society

2011-08-14T12:56:00.000-07:00

These last few months have brought a constant flow of insights, challenges, and growths that have been profound. I haven’t wanted to share any of it. They’ve been hell on my business. When I am feeling good, the universe sends me people. When I am giving off a funky vibe, then life keeps people far away. So some months are a windfall, and others… I am a welfare child living a life that is transient or even nomadic.

I can see how society’s system was created. A ‘steady job’ within the system buffers emotional challenges from harming our income. We feel good, and a steady paycheck comes in. We feel bad cause we’re growing through something, and the steady paycheck keeps coming in. it’s nice. Economy turns sour for someone with a steady paycheck and maybe they can’t take that extra vacation this year. Economy shifts for someone living outside the system and… they either have to get really creative or their risks pay off and they are positioned for this new economy. In my case, it’s been a mix of both; sometimes a blessing, and many times a “what did I get myself into!?”

But lately I feel that Arizona is home. A new life has been emerging that is more authentic. I think it would be better to say, “Authenticity is becoming home.” Truly I’m only at the beginning stages of really listening to my heart, being in my body, not projecting, and living by my Truth. 15 to 20% there? I don’t know, but looking at some of the up and coming tribesmen who flow so genuinely screaming when they want to scream, taking their clothes off when they feel free, dancing when they feel the music, and flowing with the energy looks awesome. I’m inspired by people who say ‘Yes’ to what they’re feeling.

I’ve got this “stop-and-go” deal going on inside me. It’s the main reason my knee still has trouble and reinjures itself periodically. A knee is about movement, and since I still say one thing one minute and say another thing 2 minutes later, this confusion comes out in my knee as an injury. My body is confused. I’m full of in-authenticity. Sometimes I stop dead in my tracks and talk to my leg: “Ok, a second ago I said ‘this’ and I meant it. Just cause my emotional body now wants the opposite doesn’t mean I’m going back on what I said. Move forward! Yes, yes, yes! I love you, leg.”

I feel like an alien in this world, adapting myself to the surroundings to infiltrate different groups of people. I feel and live like them until I understand them. And there’s a new wave of hippies that’s been drawing me to them. This new tribe I’ve come across is really colorful. They are expressive, organic, sharing, loving, touching, sharing, they don’t do drugs, they are conscious, meditators, they pray to their food, they act in communion with their surroundings. And this is always their reality. There aren’t many of them, but I know this part of the new society is so authentic that it’s gaining speed.

I feel the draw to them.

Having a baby without a doctor nearby- sounds good to me.

Feeding off consciously grown food that was grown in my backyard with my love, spit, and dance- mmmm, bring it.

Having a network of community to rely on, doing things together, lovingly, with sincerity- where do I sign up?

Is it real, or have I created a guru-ized illusion?

I started writing music again. This gal I dated for 2 weeks shifted so much in me that this vision I always had for myself feels closer today than it ever has. As much as I want some creature comforts and stability in life, I feel the need to now honor a new message; give freely, give openly, give much, and ask for little in return, no matter the challenge. The return will come on its own at the right time. Let Life take care of that.

I still need my alone time; time for growth. And here’s the latest direction for John Positive:

I was asked to move out to an up-n-coming retreat center outside Sedona in a small town called Pine. I’ll be selling almost everything I own again to move outside and merge with nature. There’s a new retreat center for self-guided retreats being born, and this is congruous with the new messages of the universe.

I don’t know how I fit into the picture longterm. I’d like to facilitate meditation courses there to other retreaters. I’d like also take part in lots of personal meditation and grounds-keeping (for physical exercise), but outside of that and the tons of connection to nature, who knows. Natural vibrations like the star’s wishes, the sun’s power, the moon’s rays, the bird’s gliding, the elk’s invincibility feel good to me right now. No refrigerators, few belongings, maximum portability. I would use the extra income not paying rent to travel as needed to neighboring cities to give lectures or take more healing classes. Or maybe, to sit still and do nothing.

Already I’ve noticed a shift in me. I’ve been on this new schedule for 2 weeks. The first week I had such a mental explosion I almost collapsed after the full day of work. An old mental program related to pleasing my father came up strongly and wouldn’t let me be with my body. I kept projecting and pointing the finger until I virtually cried myself to sleep after a bunch of toe-stubbs.

A toe-stubb would be a string of minor mishaps like slamming the door on your finger, not being able to answer the phone on time, or anything that feels pressured, tense, or difficult when it should be easy.

I started the summer out with a strong ability to manifest worldly desires. I was well on my way to replacing my old engineering income with my new life-coaching income. But the bottom fell out when the ego secretly came in through the back door.

Things became imbalanced. I was projecting too much. Even two days ago I was in a state where my mind would flip-flop between, “Everything’s amazing!!” and “Holy shit, the floor is about to be pulled out from under me.”

I kept hearing the message being whispered to me, “Life is so fragile.”

Life has been telling me never to act as though I have it all figured out. I thought of a few clients I had told recently, “Look it’s so easy… why do you feel that way? All you need to do is…”, as if I knew what they needed.

But here I was, empty, lost, confused, and flip-flopping. Life is so fragile. Where a month ago there was solidity, lately there’s been nothing. No blanket. No mommy to grab onto; I’ve used that lifeline too many times. And no friends; this country doesn’t work like India where any day of the week you can go live with someone for months until you get your act together again. I was feeling alone and fragile.

Then a minute later, everything was ok again.

A month ago I gave the first Vipassana 5-day retreat in Las Vegas where I tried to conduct the entire retreat with my awareness on myself and not projecting anything to anyone. Not even ‘teaching’ anything to anyone; just teaching to myself. Not taking on anyone else’s stuff. I had my own to deal with. The retreat ended up being quite pure. A force-field came over me that became so strong, I sat in my own space, giving the course in a way that was me against me, and everyone who participated received exactly what they needed; all because I was in the moment, with myself, and not projecting.

It was hard for me. But it was so authentic that I knew I had stumbled across something. So each day since I have practicing feeling myself inside my chest, in my body before speaking. That’s a tough one. Forgiving myself and starting to act more like a silly child has helped. When I’m stuck in the head, it’s foreign for me to ‘play’.

Getting sloppy and silly has helped the attachment in the body to relax itself and release much faster. I think a lot of Shannon Hoon from Blind Melon. What a genius. What a hero. Talk about following one’s voice to complete openness and authenticity. He was an alien who came here to teach us about authenticity; being open and free.

I slept under the stars this week a few times. It was like the missing link in my life. I slept like a baby right on the earth staring at a hundred billion stars. I would wake up and give my life-coaching call at 4:30am under the stars on a hilltop to the students on the call. And after all the hard physical labor from the day before, there was so much more authenticity on the call. No hype, no “You control your life!”, but a simplicity that was welcome to me. I was observing myself from a distance thinking, “Shit, that’s cool. I like me right now. This is real.”

Then a few hours later the ego would kick back in.

Let’s see how a few weeks or even months under them stars will begin to shift this mind and body.

For now, I’ve been feeling lots of, “What’s in it for me?! What’s the meaning of all this?!” come up. I have a complete lack of patience whenever the ego arises. I want it all, I want it now, and I want recognition for it. It’s gonna be cool to watch if and how this shifts over time. I think being out in nature is going to do me right.

I am simple. I can’t do 2 things at once. I get home and I get frustrated in seconds when I pull out receipts, loose change, a phone, earpiece, wallet, and keys outta my pocket and put them onto a countertop with 22 other receipts on it. It’s too much. I don’t want any of it. I await the day when money is either in abundance or nonexistent in society, life is simple, and someone is taking care of my day-to-days so I don’t have to. Or rather…I embrace today with simplicity, with an open heart. Arizona’s given me lots of new energies lately that have turned the tides in this walkabout liberation.

I’m going on a date right now. I won’t try to share jokes that will make her laugh. I will ask to hold her hands at the table as I stare straight into her eyes. “Hello, I am jan tijmes. I am you, and you are me. Share with me your life tonight. Let’s be free and express; no holding back. We’ll figure it out along the way.”

Thank you Arizona. Your expansiveness is welcoming to my heart these days. It’s helping me pull my shoulders back and know that I have a right to be here and to live joyfully; just like everyone else.

Jan

Walkabout Liberation

Liberation Lesson with John Fire Lame Deer

2011-05-07T22:07:00.000-07:00

I was going to send you a long-winded article with all the amazing shifts that have happened in the past 4 months, but I feel this excerpt from the great Sioux Indian healer, John Fire Lame Deer, is more appropriate.

“Here we are, sitting on Teddy Roosevelt’s head, giving him a headache, maybe. If we get tired of the view from here, we could move over and sit for a while on Washington or Lincoln or Jefferson, but Teddy is by far the best. There is moss growing near the back of his skull, lots of trees, firewood, boulders to lean your back against, a little hollow surrounded by pines, which makes a nice campground- especially with that cliff rising behind it on which that big “Red Power – Indian Land” sign is painted. It looks nice, doesn’t it? Actually, we’re not sitting exactly on Teddy’s head, which is bald and smooth, but in back of it, halfway toward Lincoln. We are really higher than any of these heads. One good thing about being on top of Mount Rushmore, it’s the only place around here where you don’t have to look at those big faces, these giant tourist curios, ashtrays, paperweights. I know a Santee Indian who some years ago climbed up here one night with a few friends just to pee down on the nose of one of those faces. He called it a “symbolic gesture”. The way he told it to me it was quite a feat. They had to form a human chain to make it possible for him to do it.

John (Fire) Lame Deer holding Peace Pipe.

Don’t get me wrong – we hold no grudge against Lincoln, Jefferson, or Washington. They signed a few good treaties with us and it wasn’t their fault that they weren’t kept. What we object to is the white man’s ignorance and self-love, his disregard for nature which makes him desecrate one of our holy mountains with these oversized pale faces. It’s symbolic, too, that this “Shrine of Democracy,” these four faces, are up to their chins in one tremendous pile of rubble, a million tons of jagged, blasted, dynamited stone reaching all the way down to the visitor’s center. If you look up the mountain, the way most tourists do, you see these four heads rising out of something like a gigantic, abandoned mine dump. But nobody seems to notice that.

Black Hills, S Dakota, near Keystone.

It’s funny that we all got the sudden urge to be up here – you, a white artist (author Richard Erdoes) with your wife, I, an old Sioux medicine man, a handful of Indian ladies with their children and grandchildren, and a bunch of young, angry, “Red Power” kids. We are all different and have come here for different reasons, each of us bringing his own private anger with him. Well, a good anger is a good thing too. It could turn into love in the end. Anger is something we can share, like food.

meditation position.

Listen, my white friend Richard here told me some reasons why he doesn’t like Mount Rushmore. We Indians have many reasons why we don’t like it, but he has thought up a few we never hit on. He calls these faces one big white ego trip. He says good art can’t be made with a jackhammer, and I think, being an artist, he knows what he is talking about. He says that anything that is in such disharmony with nature is bad art. Even if Michelangelo had made this monument it would still be ugly, because it fits into these mountains, our sacred Black Hills, like a red hot iron poker into somebody’s eye. Did I get you right so far?

tourism at Mount Rushmore

Richard also called it a disease of our society – I guess you meant white society, not us – to confuse bigness with greatness. I got this right away, because that’s what we think, too, but you also told me something I had not known before. It was this: that the only other mountains carved up like Rushmore are some huge cliffs in Asia. They always show some Babylonian big cheese, or Egyptian pharaoh, trampling some people underfoot, and the inscription always goes like this:

“I, the great king, the king of king, the living god, I smote fifty towns over there and buried the inhabitants alive, and I smashed fifty cities down here and had everybody impaled, and I conquered another fifty places on this side and had everybody in them burned up, and to show you what a big guy I am I had a thousand slaves carve up this mountain.”

Excerpt from Lame Deer Seeker of Visions

1972, Simon & Schuster, John (Fire) Lame Deer and assistant Author Richard Erdoes

Highlights of personal Liberation shifts in past few months:

Reading a few of The Ringing Cedars Books.
Visiting Houston for an Emotional Body Mastery Retreat with Joey Klein.
Teaching an Emotional Mastery Course at Centerpoint Houston.
Training the Emotional Body with more dedication and persistence.
Teaching a 4-week “Discipline Training” Course to students from Las Vegas and Houston.
Teaching a 3-day Mental Mastery Retreat (Anapana) in Las Vegas.
Enrolling in an IET ArchAngel Healing Course in Sedona, AZ.
Beginning work on Houston Mental Mastery Retreat & Las Vegas Follow-up.
Intensifying work with fellow healer to develop new service, along with new shifts required to ready self for this level of service.
Staying Plugged In: listening to audios from other great teachers and talking weekly to related healers.
Consistent Journaling on goals and vision.
Keeping awareness on self, and not losing self to the excitement of others, other people, or other events. Training that I am the most important and exciting thing in existence. My peace and mental & emotional mastery is foremost.
Enjoying being of service when someone calls.

That’s the latest from Walkabout Liberation and friend, Jan Tijmes.

May your Path be lit with good friends, smart business, and vibrant health.

Got a burning question? Call John Positive at 281-414-7895.

One Week Long Water Fasting Sedona

2011-03-29T06:39:00.000-07:00

Jan’s 8-day water fast: March 12 thru 19, 2011 for Liberation of bodily toxins that stop this little body from absorbing more nutrients.

Day 1, Saturday:

I am hosting a party tonight with tons of food and about 15+ guests. So far I desire some breakfast, though my bowels are still chalk full from 3 days of hevy eating tht began with friend Gregg Mikeljohn visiting from Canada with his girlfriend. By evening, partytime, the smell of food is quite delicious and almost overpowering. But the mind is set on doing the 12 days of fasting, so there is no chance to go back on the decision. So headaches and hunger, as I was used to honey, soda, etc, and this is sugar release.

Day 2, Sunday:

Starting to feel really tired, exhausted. Feeling some bowel movement down under, but nothing’s come out. May do an enema to help it along. Cleaning up after the party, and emptying the fridge, and the sights of such nice food is challenging. Body caving in on itself, with throbbing at the temples. The more I live from the heart and breath in the energy from around me then more the pains go away. Laid in sun, which was divine. That’s my only food. I have lots of new ideas re marketing and helping more people, yet too low on inspiration energy to move much. I washed half the dishes at a time, due to feeling of passing out. Tried to do Vipassana meditation, but maybe did 1.5 hour s all day, as I’d start then almost pass out. Used an enema in the evening to induce that grumpy to come out. So 1 bowel movement thus far, and it felt as if more was in there. Breaking out quite a bit. Went to Red Rock Crossing for the first time in 2 years. Didn’t feel like facing anyone, cause I had some blemishes that weren’t too good-looking.

Day 3, Monday:

Woke up noticing like a bruise at the bottom of my right foot as if I banged my foot on the bed overnight really hard. But this couldn’t have happened, so it appears to be some sort of release from the body? Today I have to work 9 hours in a shop, so this will be interesting. Fortunately I’ll be alone, so I can integrate the experience without a boss throwing curve balls. I feel a lot better today; the body is converting into its new state, and the dizziness and headaches have passed. I am clear enough to load some ads online to promote my services. Fewer blemishes, but in all they are passing. Interesting I’m passing gas when I eat nothing for 3 days.

Day 4, Tuesday:

Where does the time go. I went to sleep at midnight again and woke up at 7am. Not too good, cause I love the morning energy and taking advantage of yoga, walking, and meditation time. Woke up with one big blemish, so they’re burning themselves off. Still feeling quite weak, and to me, I don’t like this, cause I manifest things really fast. So if I attach myself to the weakness, surely I become weaker. I meditated one hour this morning and it brought so much balance. This fast is releasing so much I don’t know which way is up, and not a single client has called me in days. Today I work again- the last day of the work-week, so I can begin focusing on John Positive again. That’s a good feeling. So work was challenging for the lst 3 hours. Definitely not recommended to work while n a fast, especially if you are a ‘vata’ body/ mind type. This type of person is traditionally skinny, airy, scattered, high risk, and with fast metabolism. For us, missing one meal can mean life or death, cause there’s little skin on the bones to begin with. But it’s ll in the mind I am noticing. Massive tooth aches for 2^nd day in a row. I have some cavities that need work, yet I haven’t gotten around to it. The bruised right foot continued today. I noticed this evening there are actually 2 large bulging red spots on either side of my right heal. Sensitive to touch and very obvious when I place my foot under light to look at it. Interesting I’m passing gas when I eat nothing for 4 days.

whelps forming at bottom of foot during long water fasting.

more whelps at bottom of right foot during one week (8day) water fast

Day 5: Wednesday:

Lots more bitchiness today. Few blemishes too. Had a session with a friend to pinpoint some of the areas I’m rough on. “I want things now”. Is a big one, and I’m having to let go of what I want and begin allowing for life in this new environment of Sedona to bring me things in its due time. Trying to get a part-time job to supplement, as my fasting state doesn’t bring in clients, and I’ll have to make up for lost wages. My little body manages to manifest things in record speeds. Whelps on bottoms of my feet are more pronounced. I’m told they could be bladder release and pelvic release.

Did lots of YouTube video watching on fasting, and I’m so excited about what I’m doing. Not only does it help someone loose weight, but as in my case, it also helps people gain weight. I feel I will be gaining more weight when I get off this fast and reintroduce a very balanced and mostly raw diet. One of the biggest things I learned today was that I really have Celiac Disease, or gluten intolerance (read How to cure celiac disease). Furthermore, there are fascinating things this does to a body if one has it, and I know it’s affected mine. Gluten is in wheat, mustard, bread, grains (oatmeal doesn’t have gluten, but it has a protein similar, and some bodies can mistake it for it), couscous, and so many other items. There all little villi or tubes in the small intestine walls that help absorb nutrients and better assimilate foods. Any gluten product actually cuts off these villi and leaves the body with a lack of being able to absorb food nutrients. This results in enamel problem, height & weight problems, blemishes, and a looooong list of issues. So needless to say, I’ll be staying away from gluten from now on. Cause I want my villi!! And I know this fast is giving them a chance to grow again. Interesting I’m passing gas when I eat nothing for 5 days.

Day 6: Thursday:

Acne has disappeared with the exception of a minor blemish. I feel wonderful as a matter of fact! I woke up and felt better than any day before- ready to tackle something- but then again I have little energy. So I do work an 8hr day. I will ask my boss to take it easy on me. I’m also intending about 10 clients to call me for a ‘free tarot card reading’ offer this weekend where I’d offer sessions in exchange for donations to help me drive back to Houston. Can’t wait to see the turnout. Whelps on foot have reduced in size slightly. I saw the dentist today. Turns out I exchanged today’s day of work for next Tuesday. She fixed 4 cavities, and we agreed I’d work on my large molar with energy healing for a week before deciding what to do with it. Turns out it’s the culprit in all the pain in my mouth. Poor thing had a deep filling done that reaches the nerve pulp back in January (2 months ago). It’s become really sensitive to hot and cold, and I can’t put anything into my mouth without acclimating the temp of it to the body temperature. So for a few hours a day it shoots pain into my face and the other teeth nearby. I went to see my neighbor, Nayan, and I was grateful for his guru to send some healing love into it. In the evening I spent a few hours filling out applications for a spiritual raw eatery and a spiritual renewal center in the south of Arizona. I sat there feeling lost afterwards. I wanted to call some friends, but I realized I had no friends in Sedona; no one I could just call up out of the blue. Then I wanted to watch a movie, but none would play in my dvd player. I wanted to walk around, but I was too weak to do it. All I had was me. I just went to bed early. I did Vipassana at 5, 10, and even 20 minute stretches, but still I’ve found the discipline for dedicated meditation to be extremely challenging for me. If I were in a group, with a family feeling, then I know my spirits would be much higher, and I’d be able to function and meditate at higher levels.

Day 7: Friday:

It’s Friday morning. The sun is coming up over the Sedona ridge. The whelps on my foot are all but gone. I have lost quite a bit of weight, but I know that after this cleansing, I’ll be gaining it back in a healthy way. I looked at myself for the first time in days without a shirt on. It’s shocking how many ribs I can see. I do feel a bit weak, so I decided to meditate and ask my body when to get off this fast and begin juicing.

My body said to take juices on either Day 8 or Day 9, my choice, but that Day 10 or Day 11 (the original ending of the fast) would be too challenging for it. So that means by this Sunday, in 2 days, I’ll begin with a shot of wheatgrass mixed with water. Then I’ll chew celery much of the day. Perhaps even do a small scoop of green drink to introduce some probiotics back into the gut. There were stories from the Panama fasting center (Tanglewood) where skinny people who couldn’t gain weight no matter how much they ate and worked out were fasting 42 days to recalibrate their bodies. 42 days! I also hear of Paul Bragg through Dr. Gabriel Cousens, the health food nut who opened the country’s first health food store. He used to fast 21 days each year and he lived to around 96 years old. One time, years into his fasting regimen, during a fast, he began peeing red. He took a sample, and it was stated as being DDT. It took so long for the body to reach that impurity and release it.

Still I’ve noticed a blemish here and there. Very small, yet I wonder how long it would take to release them all. I definitely says something. I’ve also had some psoriasis spots on my face and the tip of my nose (red How to Cure Psoriasis). These have decreased somewhat. I welcome a longer fast where I know these would go away completely. Yet I feel with a new raw and fruit veggie diet, my body will continue cleansing for about 3 months, and health will continue to skyrocket. I must stay strong, cause in all of society, it tries to give you cheap filling treats, cheap meals, things that really should not be eaten but taste amazing. A grumpy! I knew I had one in there! It was stirring for days, so I took an enema, and sure enough a few came out. That’s nuts and exciting. How cool is this?! I just ran to the bathroom over the last two hours three with the runs and a couple mini-grumpies. The second one had a real stench- that means good release! And again in the evening I had to release a little diarrhea. On a very good note, I went to see a movie, and I felt so fantastic afterwards, I walked Sedona for a half hour before stopping at my favorite eatery. I and met up with a few old pals who were really happy to see me. We all talked for awhile about raw foods and fasting, before I headed out to rest again. This raw eatery and a raw life-improvement center in the south of Arizona are the two things really keeping me inspired lately. I have a lot to learn about taking care of this body properly and there are lots of culinary and nutritional experts who have pioneered this path, that I can learn from. When I told one guy at the eatery that I was on Day 7 of the fast, he said, “Oh cool, go another week,” without skipping a beat. The opposite end of the spectrum is my mom who has called me for days worried on end that I’m trying to kill myself.

looking like a veitnam vet.

Day 8: Saturday:

Well, I made it past a week. The mind has calmed down. I feel connected to everything around me in a humble way. One reason is that by default I must scan my body keeping my awareness on myself often, so as to check my life-force levels. So I had a great conversation with a couple from out of town in Sedona last night. The whole time, my awareness was on me, and I rarely projected onto them. That’s such a positive sign. If only I can maintain this humility. Today I believe I’ll lounge at home or in a coffee shop working on websites and perhaps even go to a sauna to squeeze out the last bit of impurities before having a small juice tomorrow. I did wake up with another blemish, so I know there’s lots more release to come if I stick it out. In fact, I read that oatmeal could be a mucus-causing culprit, and I always have a string of mucus down my throat. Today I hocked a lougie outside my car, and for the first day since beginning this fast, the mucus that came up was soft and more dissolved. I believe it’s more an incentive to stay off oats.

So the body knows. At about 1:30pm this afternoon, I felt a murmur in my chest. I was also hunched over in utter loss of energy, so I listened to my body. This is the first real fast I’ve ever done besides a 3-day apple fast, so I accept that 8 days on only water is quite admirable. While lying in bed I smelt rice, and I thought how nice a warm meal would be. I went to the health shop and picked up some of the best smelling apples, cantaloupe, lettuce, and watermelon ever. So until Tuesday, another 3.5 days, I’ll be a fruitarian and lettuce-arian. Then for the 2+ day drive home back to Houston…. Who knows. But it will be something that passes easily through the bowels, like spinach, millet, soaked nuts, apples, etc. Real simple foods. I feel good about this. I drank 12 ounces of coconut water and ate a slice of cantaloupe. I will eventually begin the Tree of Life Phase I raw foods program which will last 3 months. 3 months of raw foods that will slowly convert all my cells back to a live and vibrant state :) This time period rarely allows any sweets except for stevia and a little agave nectar, so it’ll be a challenge with my sweettooth- but very positive. Still feeling low, but my spirits are rising. The fasting will now continue on a new level; with very watery simple foods. I’m off to the sauna to sit for an hour and squeeze out a coupe impurities of the body ;)

I mentioned it to friend that I had placed a lot of ads out for almost free spiritual services on Craig’s List. I also have my 5 websites up, yet not one person called during this fast. It’s amazing the power of the universe. It felt the vibe I was giving off, and it allowed me to heal in peace. Next time I’ll know that when I do a fast, there will be no money coming in. Only on Friday, when I began to feel uplifted did someone send me a very heartwarming email about the challenges they’re going through and the help they need.

Ooooh, post sauna and eating that sliver of cantaloupe and wad of lettuce, I just went to the bathroom with the darkest runs ever. It was horror show. Twice! Nice….. I am so happy I did this experiment. At the sauna there was a woman, typically figured working behind the desk. She was plump, and you could tell she didn’t regularly exercise. I told her I was getting off my fast today and she said, “Oh, that’s wonderful! But don’t do what I did. A few ears back I did an 8-day fast, and when it was over I ran to the closest craving I could find, and I ate chili. My stomach was like, Nooo!”

Chili! Oooooohhh……. That’s gotta hurt.

I weighed myself at the sauna. I weighed 122lbs. Before the fast I was around 140. So that means approx 18lbs of water, fat, and muscle weight dropped in 8 days. That’s intense for a small guy like me. But the incredible news is that I found out about the celiac disorder, and now, after this cleanse, my body will be able to gain a better weight than before with healthier foods, cause it will be able to absorb the nutrients. I’m super excited.

I started out thinking this was going to be a Vipassana/ water fast, where I would have lots of chance to meditate. I was dead wrong. I am very sensitive to things, so this quote from a master faster told me why, “Generally the more toxic we are and the more aggressively we detox, the weaker we will feel.” I was pretty weak and whiny most days.

Thanks for reading, if any of you out there benefitted. I’m off to make a bok choi, celery, onion, green chard, and garlic soup, so I can drink the broth. One things for sure, if you decide to do a water fast, don't expect any business to come in for you :) You will probably be releasing very deeply, so the universe will support you being left alone.

All the love to you,

Jan

Hints from a master faster: He has done a few 30-day fasts (read his stories at: http://www.stevepavlina.com/forums/health-fitness/32718-beautiful-fast-2.html)

Only live juice and fresh vegetable broth 1 day for every 4 days of water fasting.
Generally the more toxic we are and the more aggressively we detox, the weaker we will feel.
DEFINITELY SUNBATHE AND DO A LITTLE OUTDOOR WALKING.
Some common detox symptoms: weakness, tiredness, light headedness (be careful not to get up fast and faint), feeling lousy, coated tongue/mouth, bad breath, headache, sore muscle(s) .......... also heartburn, nausea. If we remember that the fasting body is sending toxins from our cells into our bloodstream for elimination, it should be anticipated that we might feel less than 100% as this is taking place.
…brisk walking… slowed the detox, but masked certain symptoms including feelings of hunger, not to mention feelings of weakness. (he is saying that if you lay around more (resting), then you’ll detox stronger.

God bless you all~

Vipassana Houston Texas Schedule Retreats

2011-03-28T07:04:00.000-07:00

Due to the high demand for learning how to calm one's mind, relax, release tension, and master one's life, The John Positive Company headed by meditation instructor Jan Tijmes, offers 1-day, 3-day and 10-day meditation retreats for Houston, Texas. These are taught under the name Vipassana New World. If you are new to Vipassana Meditation, each of these courses will become the best "mental mastery" tool you will have taken to date.

Houston Vipassana

Instructor Tijmes follows the technique, guidelines, and timetables as set forth by organizations such as "Vipassana as taught by SN Goenka" and Sayagyi U Ba Khin's "International Meditation Center". Mr. Tijmes is not affiliated with or endorsed by meditation centers other than "Vipassana New World". He shares an understanding and ability to teach the methods in such a way that Americans grasp it and utilize it on a daily basis. In any circumstance, people's lives begin to blossom and unfold in relaxed and loving ways.

Vipassana Instructor, Jan Tijmes

If you would like for Mr. Tijmes to develop and instruct a course for your church, organization, corporation, or group, then please contact The John Positive Company at 281-414-7895. They teach 3-day Anapana respiration courses, 10-day Advanced Vipassana courses, as well as "The VL Technique", which is a simplified version of Vipassana that stands for "Vipassana-Lite". This simplified technique gives people the benefits of Vipassana Meditation in daily life without having to go as deeply into the mind. It is great for beginners and intermediates to meditation and extremely effective for one and all.

Vipassana Texas

Vipassana New World provides courses in other parts of the United States as well. If you have a group in any of the 50 States and would like a retreat for this area, please contact John Positive for logistics. Courses have recently been taught in Las Vegas and Houston.

Recent Vipassana Courses:

July, 2011: Las Vegas: 3-day and 10-day Vipassana Retreat
June, 2011: Houston 3-day Mental Mastery Anapana Retreat
April 15 - 17, 2011: 3-day Anapana Meditation Retreat, Las Vegas, Nevada

December, 2010: 3-day Anapana Meditation Retreat, The Heights, Houston

For free Anapana Meditation Audio, please click here.

For free Vipassana Meditation Audio, please click here.

For question regarding meditation, techniques, retreats, or your unique life-challenges, John Positive may be reached at 281-414-7895 or via email: JohnPositive at Live.com.

Each retreat venue will be different, as each retreat is uniquely created for the group contacting Vipassana New World. At times, furnished homes are rented as the venues. At times, outdoor camping accommodations are made available. It depends on the groups requesting a course.

Costs:

In order to put together a Vipassana 3-day retreat, a minimum of 6 people are requested to pre-register for the weekend retreat. The 3-day course is $200 to $499 (for elite service), and includes lodging, meals, discourses (teachings) and mental and emotional training via 8 to 11 hours of experiential meditation per day.

Have a beautiful day, and may you go with Peace and Abundance,

Jan

Office: 281-414-7895

The John Positive Company

Vipassana New World

How to organize a Vipassana Self-Course: an informative article written after a 15 day meditation.

Vipassana Arizona Long-Course: an article written after a 22-day Vipassana Meditation in Pine, Arizona, and the challenges that occurred mentally from this experience.

Unexpected karma session brings a Lesson in Judgment

2011-02-26T19:12:00.001-08:00

On this issue of Walkabout Liberation, I travel to Sedona for a Oneness Blessing day-long event to connect with Divine love and become our authentic selves.

a photo of Amma and Bhagavan and me with cum-cum on my forehead in Sedona.

Today, I had the privilege of sitting with the Reverend Kerry Chinn in Sedona after spending an afternoon at a Oneness Blessing event “opening my heart”. I was having pain in my left leg, so I asked him to tune in to it for guidance on how to improve it. Gratefully, he tuned in without batting an eye. He is a well-known healer and could have charged me quite a bit for this service, yet he was very kind. My left leg was injured in a car accident in 2005, and it hasn’t fully healed. No matter how much I work on it, it’s remains ‘less-than’ the other leg.

Reverend Chinn tuned in to it and said within a few minutes, “The circulation is weak there, tell me about your step-father?”

Just then I had a sinking feeling in my stomach. I suppose I had realized the importance of clearing all karma with family and friends, yet I've been lazy in doing it. And as for my step-father, I had never faced our 'simple' issues. In fact, out of everyone I knew, he topped the list of people I couldn’t face; my mind would avoid staring at him and working out our differences.

So I told Kerry about my step-father, and he said, “Your injury is tied karmically to your step-father. I can’t say it’ll heal if you heal the judgment and programs between you both, but I can say that lots of things will begin to shift and clear up. You see, in your case, this injury is tied to the karmic body. So no matter how much physical improvement you do to the leg itself, it will only marginally improve. However, if you clear up the lifetimes of judgment and karma between you two, then things have a better chance of healing. This also depends on whether or not you actually want the leg to properly heal on the spiritual level. Your dad does things the way he does, and many people look up to him for the way he does things. But you judge him. Why don’t you look into this. You feel a lack of approval from him too. Why can others love him at face value yet you place a judgment?”

Just before leaving his house, he said, "I already notice a improvement in circulation. Keep releasing that issue."

This judgment hit home. On the hour-long drive home. I sat with my step-father, and sure enough, I had not been able to fully accept him since I was a child. We both played mirror programs off of one another. I would always act like I knew it better. I couldn’t accept his methods, because he was so rigid and strict towards his way. So I resented this. This caused him to judge me for not seeing things his wonderful way (or even respecting his way), because he felt this resentment. This would then send a counter-program back to me that would make me feel unaccepted as his child- that I had to prove myself. And so the cycle would continue.

What I hadn’t realized was that a simple judgment towards a person could cause so many consequences in the strangest places of life. As Buddha said regarding enlightenment, “In thinking, there is mere thinking, in seeing, mere seeing, in tasting, mere tasting, in touching, mere touching, and in smelling, mere smelling, and in hearing, mere hearing.” If anything would happen outside of this neutral reality, then negative karma (what he called “Sankharas”) would be formed in the mind. And so here I was, forming negative patterns in my mind that were blocking future opportunities and my ability to fully accept my step-father.

So I began a release session with my step-father to accept my judgments towards him, beg for forgiveness, request the Divine to take this from me, and for the healing process to begin. What began to happen was that one-after-another other people came to my mind as I did this release session. Over 50 people in fact who were tied to my family, childhood, jobs, roommates, or lovers all came up, and with each of them I had some major judgments associated with them. I began doing the same thing with each of them. As I did this I’d feel lighter and more released- and broken down in terms of ego. So I kept going until all people ceased appearing. The session lasted about an hour, and I arrived back at my cabin in Pine, AZ all spaced out and mushy.

The revealing thing was that once the session ended, I could see the same 4 patterns for each person that came up. Yes, the mind plays its games, and I've been stuck in the middle of the judgment.

ah, watson, ur mental impurities are to blame. who is this I? who is this My?

These were the Programs:

The life-training system you are using isn’t good enough- mine is much better.
Why are you so rigid! Why are you the way you are?! And so set in your way! It’s no good, mine is better!
Why can’t you make better use of your talents?! You have such great abilities, but you sit in such a pathetic life, accepting less than you are worth.
Why are you stuck in that issue?! Why can’t you just go deeper, see this truth, and move beyond it?

And here’s the kicker I realized: the world is a mirror, so these were actually the same judgments my own mind makes towards myself each day.

I always wonder if I’m doing the right system or the right way. I seek approval. I don't even know if my way is right, but I judge everyone on their way.
I always want to flow with life, but I’m stuck in the rigidity of this mind.
I have wonderful talents, but most of them are marginal in their use, meaning, I’m not able to capitalize as abundantly as I’d like to on them. So I come down on myself for this.
I get stuck on various issues each day of my life. I must await the Program to make itself known in God's time, so I can move beyond it- and sometimes this takes years.

So that was it.

I parked in the driveway, sat in my car; dazed and confused. I realized that days from then I’d look back and be happy with the liberation that took place. But as it stood, I was egoless and broken. What a humbling feeling.

a few days before.

I am sorry to all of you whom I have judged and who I continue to judge. I am sorry, my step-father. Everyone has such unique energy and upbringing, they are all doing their best. You have been such an amazing guide and strong support in my life. 'I am you and you are me.' We are the same energy and the same programs. If you find me doing this in the future, may you kindly remind me, “You are love, so can you help love others? I am love, you may practice on me.” Maybe that will shake me out of the mind and remind me that I am here to awaken and love others. So I continue this work to be done with the suffering.

In A Course in Miracles, it says that a person who judges a lot can have chronic fatigue issues. I know personally that I’ve dealt with different forms of fatigue for decades. And so today, I came to know the truth of this for myself. Blasted....

Blessings to all.

Jan

Walkabout Liberation

view of Sedona from the airport.

If you aren’t sure if this affects you, then try this exercise:

Think of any person whatsoever in your life. Feel if there is an initial reaction; a tinge of judgment or negativity. If so, then a clearing could be appropriate. Think of them and say to yourself, “I honor you and value you for who you are.” If there’s any hesitation or judgment in you saying this, then perhaps some karmic lesson exists between you, and this should be looked at. Just accept it as true, and request the Divine to enter your life and help you release this judgment and old mental programming. We don't have to know how to release it. Just accept it and request the help to release it.

To a better tomorrow!

If you would like help with your own Karmic Release Session from judgement of Family & Acquaintances, I can share with you how to do this, or I can help guide a session for you. Please ask which you would like.

That we may all become our purer selves; accepting of others.

127 Hours: In Seeing There is Mere Seeing

2011-02-18T23:52:00.000-08:00

A story for the Empaths out there….

I am grateful for today. I am grateful for this week. I had a client recently that had me again wonder why I was in the business of spiritual counseling and healing. It made me question lots of things. I couldn’t get out of my head thinking I had to perform or do some acrobatic healing stunt for this client. I felt ‘worthless’ in a sense. Was this me? Why is it that with some clients magic happens, and with others it can be like pulling teeth?

For the past few weeks I’ve begged a renowned healer of Sedona, AZ to sit with me and tell me about trance channeling. I had a feeling it may offer a clue into some of the issues I kept running into with clients. Today I got to sit with this healer’s top student.

For me, this session was nothing short of transformational. I was sitting with a master healer (Master meaning one of the top percentile students of the USA healing arts), and the issues he raised about the way I have been healing and how to take it to the next level were serious. I could feel his solutions to be the best options for me to incorporate into healing, so I can be happier as a healer, and the client can be happier with the results.

One issue he raised was about being an Empath. He said, “You’re an empath. You go through this world picking up on people’s issues and how they are feeling all the time, am I right?”

“Yes.”

“So this challenge you felt the other day with your client was not you, was it?”

“I don’t know. Can you explain?”

“Well, don’t you know your own energy? What You feel like? You know how you taste, You know your own love, so when all this doubt arises, and your head gets in the way and you aren’t able to flow anymore, then you’ve backed away from being the Authority in your life, and you’ve given your client the power over you. You’ve absorbed their insecurities, the doubt, the headgames, and you’ve unconsciously allowed them to become the master of the session. Only, they don’t know what they are doing. That’s what they came to You for. So it becomes a real mess, doesn’t it?”

“Oh snap.” And this wasn’t even the biggest thing he brought up, but a huge issue I’ve been having. It’s about Ownership- being The Man of my life, and not backing down as the central figure in my Space.

So after talking to him I went to go watch the movie 127 Hours- the story of Aron Ralston, an extreme hiker, who got his right arm stuck under a boulder and had to cut it off. It was shot with 2 teams of cinematographers, so it’s filmed like a bad acid trip. If you get sucked in, you will find your heart beating out of your chest. So I began to watch the movie with an extra dose of awareness. I began doing Vipassana all over my body for the entire movie, so I would stay balanced.

But it was hard!

I had to relax and remind myself again and again to go back to observing my body as I watched this gripping tale. For most of the movie, my heart and abdomen continued to throb and pulsate. Emotionally however, I was mostly released from what I was watching.

What do I mean?

Well, there was a story from the Buddha’s day when an old man came to see the Buddha for enlightenment. The old man already thought he was enlightened, but friends of his told him he wasn’t. They said there lived a man in Savathi who was fully enlightened and could help the old man reach the final stage.

So the old man set out to find Buddha. On a street teaching and begging his midday meals, the old man found the Buddha. He asked for a teaching to help him reach the final goal of full liberation. The Buddha looked at the old man and said these words, “In seeing there is mere seeing. In hearing mere hearing. In smelling mere smelling. In tasting mere tasting. In touching mere touching. And in cognizing mere cognizing.”

What the Buddha meant was that these processes take place in life, yet a person should not react to a single one of them. There was only a thin thread of illusion left in the old man’s mind, and this was broken with these simple words. It was then and there that the old man became fully Liberated from his mind.

So why was my heart and abdomen throbbing and pulsating?! Where was this coming from?

I can’t say that all of it was from me. But as I looked around I noticed a group of people near me gripped to their seats. And then it hit me: Yes, I was in fact absorbing the emotions from others and I was projecting them as my own. It was just as the healer had told me.

I tried for the second half of the film to distinguish my pure energy from the energy pattern I was absorbing, but I just wasn’t able to do it. I relaxed as much as I could, and I observed as much as possible without reacting. I can only guess that the coffee from lunch and my novice-ness were the reasons why I couldn’t separate my emotions from the emotions of others.

So I’ll keep practicing. I know that becoming the authority in my life and not letting any thoughts or emotions come into my space without my permission are keys to evolving to the next level. So tomorrow I try again.

Good night.

For those who would like to read further….

Here is an email from a friend and student of The Positive Path weekly life-coaching phone party. He also went to see 127 Hours and had quite a fascinating experience in it- read on!

Email from student “a”

I've recently got a hand injury in a very unusual way that I'm tending to medically. While seeing the movie "127 Hours" I became overwrought and physically dizzy with the plots graphic and intense scene like no other movie I've ever seen. Getting up to leave the theater area, I became very disoriented and crashed into the main exit doors as if in a vague dream. I somehow spun to the other side of the door with my right hand crushed inside the hinge-side of the door and finally collapsing on the front lobby with my thumb bleeding and in a daze while the staff offered help.

It was an unnerving experience for sure, as I also had to go to the emergency clinic. In retrospect, the sensations I experienced as well as my injured right arm itself unusually seemed to match the very plot that was disturbing to me. Based on a real story, a lone hiker became stuck in a isolated canyon fissure after a large rock fell on his right arm and was crushing it. Days later he realized his arm died and he finally proceeded to cut off his arm to escape or die.

This is what made me very nauseous. But oddly, I left and injured my own right arm as well, in the movie theater, as if to live out the scene. After introspection, and with spiritual eyes, I can now explain with Kabbalistic understanding how this movie also gave implications for the [real] character himself, clearly showing, how [Spirit] can and will create these very extreme situations that appears like an accident, yet are real setups for soul corrections.

In other words, the hiker, though basically a good person and passionate about his happy-go-lucky and free-spirited independent style, as observed, resulted in an egoic and selfish internal consciousness or being, which could only be changed though the trauma of loss (read: sacrifice) of an arm. Yes, that's what it actually takes for some people to learn a lesson and this person was hard core in his style.

In the Tree-of-Life map of consciousness, it is important for all of us to be in what's called the central column. Too much one way or the other can create painful lessons for us. With this awareness, people can be spared a lot of chaos.

And what about my lesson? Why did it happened to me? It's about me working on my relationships [also]. Yes. And I would never had make that connection with conventional thought because it's all counter intuitive. Respectful, appreciative, patient, etc. I can explain the details of the lesson. It's uncanny how it works. For one to wrap their mind's around such ideas requires the desire and work and awareness. Seemingly too few desire such knowledge nor are they inclined to do the work.

It's all about evolving and resonating to that of the Creator in order to return to the perfect world we once lived.

-a

God bless you all. May we all see the Breath of God in all things.

Vipassana Meditation 22 day Arizona Cabin Sitting

2011-02-13T21:04:00.000-08:00

quiet time has arrived.

In India, I met a man named Chetan who had sat five 30-day Vipassana Courses and two 45-day Vipassanas. We sat together for awhile to chat after a 10-day course in the summer of 2009. I was shocked at the light which came from him. I also saw myself in him. I was a mess at the time, releasing massive amounts of old depression program. But I saw his light, and in seeing it, I saw my potential. I knew I could have it. He told me to push through the doubt, because Vipassana would give me what I am looking for- a quiet peaceful mind.

For those of you who aren’t familiar with Vipassana, there are many kinds being taught. The one I practice is an "anicca" Vipassana where one combs through the body piece-by-piece, part-by-part, noticing sensations throughout the body until the whole body opens up into a massive vibrating mass of energy. I have only reached this huge vibration once. Since then it's morphed into other things. But that is the subtle beauty of Vipassana; it changes and we must remain equanamous and balanced with the changed- not craving for something which is not. And that's the goal of the technique; to be in this present, aware of one's body and mind at the subtlest levels, so all craving and hatred is rooted out from the subconscious mind.

Pine, AZ cabin area.

So I have had aspirations for a longer course for a year now. I decided to do a 22day self-course in a small cabin in Pine, AZ, near Sedona. I did not know what lied ahead- only that my mind said, "Do it!" So I found a little meditation retreat center where the owner offered me a deal, so I could stay 45 days and release Houston's city-energy. Four days after I arrived, it began.

The First 10 Days

A Vipassana (as taught by SN Goenka) schedule begins by waking up around 3:50am and going to bed by 9:30pm. In between is approximately 10 to 12 hours of daily sitting, focusing intensely on the body's sensations. Each personal development system works entirely differently. As far as this technique is concerned, there is a huge time commitment, but it's inexpensive and the results are far beyond most personal development systems.

I would get up, do morning exercises, yoga, then begin meditating by 5:15am on average. It took days to get into this routine. I had to find simple meals I could cook that would last about 4 days to minimize kitchen time. I had to provide for everything myself, on top of the intense meditation schedule. That can make it challenging when one is releasing major cravings from the mind, cause everything starts to piss you off. Showering even is a major affair, so thankfully, there was a hottub on site where I could sit in to warm up, then hop in the shower for a few minutes every few days.

The cravings that came up the first half of the course were ridiculous. What kind of mind am I carrying!? And what kind of discipline do I have? My discipline was very low. I always sat the meditations, but I gave in to a few cravings.

For 7 days straight I had to focus my attention on one little spot below my nose for up to 12 hours a day. It's called Anapanasati, or Respiration Awareness. (See Anapana article here if you'd like to practice it. I share this technique on the weekly Positive Path life-coaching calls). During this time and for the few days after you stop this, the entire body and mind begins to release to the surface of the mind anything and everything related to cravings. Stupid piddly shit, but man it hurts.

Cigarette Cravings

I don't even smoke. But I had a pack in the car to celebrate an Indian peace ceremony of being back in the 4 Corners Mountains. I buckled about 3 times to have one. Kept thinking about OSHO and how he said, "If you are really aware at the inhale and really aware at the exhale, you will never smoke again." Hmmm, not working.

Horror Films

I believe now that all people who work on or support horror movies should be put in prison to do Vipassana as their reform. I was alone on this property in a cabin with moonless nights, some reaching down to 12 degrees. On so many nights I'd take a 10 minute stroll under the stars. I'd get so frightened by Horror sounds of "Ch-ch-ch- ha-ha-ha" and piano sounds like "Du-du, du-du, du-du, du-du" like Jamie Lee Curtis is gonna run by me screaming with a man chasing her. Totally not cool. And that movie The Strangers, starring Liv Tyler, where they play the true story of a few masked psychos who kill most of them and leave the rest for dead should all be placed in double prisons doing back-to-back Vipassanas. The amount of terror that squeezed out of my mind was absurd. I was locking the cabin door at night and hiding under my covers. Life is supposed to be beautiful. We don't need horror films or dramas to make it worse.

Click for link to NPR article and audio on a Feb 2011 Vipassana in Prisons. This will be you, you horror movie makers!

http://www.npr.org/2011/02/08/133505880/at-end-of-the-line-prison-an-unlikely-escape?sc=emaf

Sex Cravings

Good God! This was a challenge. There were 4 different women streaming livewire 24 hours a day constantly through my bowels, err, mind. And it was not pure either. It was always accompanied by manipulative thoughts, calculating thoughts of, "Ooh, if I say this to this person, then surely I can get them in bed with me." I would put the thoughts aside, and again it would return. All day for over a week. No purity whatsoever.

Then another full day of gay cravings. When I did the 15 day Vipassana self-course in August, 2010, I had 2 full days of this. Gratefully, it's now lessened. The object of my desire became a different gay man I had recently re-met in Sedona. (I know my mom can read this, but I believe that during the next few decades it's imperative that we all get really honest with each other and stop the secrecy. We must admit that our minds are all filled with garbage.) It's not that being gay is bad. It's the sex-perverted cravings themselves. And in this case, they related to me performing interesting things to a gay man.

Songs and Music

A word of advice. If you enjoy music and you have done cocaine, heavy drinking, marijuana, loud partying, DJ-ing, or you can't sit still without some music on, then you're digging your own grave. There will come a lifetime for you, perhaps it's this lifetime, where you'll want to purify your mind to the deepest level and become a real saintly person. Getting rid of perpetual songs and thoughts playing in the background of the mind is one of the hardest things to release. If you read my mental defilement blog from 2 years ago, you see that songs during meditation would get stuck in my head for about 4 days long before going away. Lately they are there for a day before moving on to a different song from the mind's jukebox. The volume of them has also decreased, but the fact is, the songs keep playing. This is due to misuse of my mind from adolescent years on through the age of 28. Invest in yourself, and turn down the music, switch to softer sounds, turn it off, or listen to positive personal development audio instead. One day, your soul will thank you for it.

Sweets

I had no idea it was this bad. The last few dentists have each told me, "Ahh, I see we're quite the sweet tooth." I would always respond in defense, "Not really!"

Oh yes really. (2 months ago I had 11 cavities!!)

I found myself walking down to the nearest grocers on 3 different days to stock up on pie, banana bread, bearclaws, brownies, and apple butter. It was bad. I couldn't stop.

I almost couldn't handle it. I began doubting everything. So I had to write this sign and post it in front of me:

a little motivation in time of need.

There were other types of issues also coming up:

The two were hw much my mind Calculates and how Rash and Impulsive it is. It calculates like crazy, "How can I get this from this person, and how can I... and from whom can I... and I want this, and how will I get it..." And the way it goes about everything is with an intense rashness and impulsiveness.

I was praying for all the right programs to come out that are affecting my life the most, and this was the first time in my life I came face-to-face with Rashness. Wow. It's a big one. In fact, it's the last main reason my body has been crashing and loosing vital energy since birth. And I wouldn't come to know the answer of how to fix this until the final few days of this meditation.

How Rashness got into my mind is irrelevant. I wanted it out. And it was (is) deeply ingrained into the habit pattern of my mind. To get something like that out of a mind would be equivalent to a dentist with his knee on your chest and a set of pliers, grabbing your jaw to take the whole jaw out without anesthesia.

Days 11 thru Days 15: The Transition

Day 11 was the first official day of my mind converting into Vipassana mindset. It is truly like taking a huge positive drug that lasts days instead of hours. There is the Anapana induction period (equivalent to the first 45 minutes after a hallucinogen like LSD), there is the transition into Vipassana Mind (equivalent to the hour after taking a hallucinogen), then there is the period where the mind stabilizes and accepts what is happening and you experience the most healing and growth-filled benefits of deep Vipassana meditation (before, during, and after the climax of a hallucinogen), and finally the come-down period where you come off the experience.

In this transition, I began to get sick a few of the days. It's a feeling like having the flu. Silly Mind Cravings began to wane, and the mind began to deepen into further crevices. You can't do anything about it except remain as equanamous and even-keeled as possible; never reacting. At this stage, most cravings balanced out and fell to the wayside. Some sex issues remained and lots of ego issues. I also began getting tired of SN Goenka's audio teachings, because his ego was rubbing against mine (he has a "blue-green personality" similar to mine). So I went out in search of more audios to listen to during the evening discourses.

I came across a website from an American monk named Bhante Vimalaramsi at www.DhammaSukha.org. It was chockfull of simple and refreshing Buddha teachings. Much of it was directly applicable to Vipassana, as the monk had practiced a different version of it for 20 years. The best thing he said in his teachings was to "always notice if you’re stuck in thought or if a hindrance has arisen. Then let it go, relax the body and mind, smile, and go back to your meditation." This simple suggestion would prove invaluable, and I'll spell it out in the email to a friend below. The suggestion he made was to remain relaxed at all times, 24 hours a day.

Day 16 thru Day 22

The deepest meditation began on Day 16. It started off as a strange day, so I was amazed to find myself a few hours later in a complete "absorption". I got sucked into dark holes every spot of the body I observed. I began thinking, "Oh shit, this is gonna be interesting." You can bet that when a mind pierces into these deep spots like a hot knife into butter, a ton of old mental programs are going to release and you're gonna get really sick.

The mind became so single-pointed. All emailing to other people fell away. All evening snacks I was eating fell away. The only desire I had was to meditate intensely. Then the release began and I hit a deep period of doubt. I began doubting that I was doing the meditation correctly.

A funny thing about doubt and attachment: we THINK it is because of the things we are doubting or attached to, but the Doubt and Attachment Programs are not particular, not personal. They do not attach to one thing exclusively. They make you doubt and attach to anything and everything in your path. If you're meditating, you'll doubt meditation. If you have a loud roommate nearby, then you'll attach to that. But it is not them or the situation. The only Truth is that doubt or attachment energy has arisen from the depths of the mind and has now surfaced into your conscious mind. So now you take everything personal thinking things are wrong or out to get you, when in fact, Doubt and Attachment are Impersonal. I know this is hard to understand, but you experience it in a Vipassana meditation. I also experienced this while doing Holosync meditation a few years back. For a few weeks, I begn doubting the business I was working on, when in reality, the newest level of Holosync I had just began was releasing Doubt Energy from my mind.

keep going....

Again I began praying that nasty programs from my mind should release so I may help others more purely. That is when I began receiving insight into the Rashness Program that was so ingrained into my mind. When I would cook, reach for something, change clothing, or do anything that was an 'action item' (non-verbal or non-thought), I noticed it was done really impulsively. The motto of this program was, "Just get it over with as soon as possible, so I can get back to relaxing!"

Oohhhhh. I had received a real insight. For years now, this is the biggest program in my mind. Whether putting a spoonful of food into my mouth, raking the leaves, or driving a car, my mind goes unconscious and I wake up when the activity is completed.

Holy shit! That means the pain body is in charge! That means I have been taking years off my life, cause every program has the built-in characteristic of self-hatred and disregard for health!

the 22 day schedule

So I started meditating during meditation hours, after meditation hours, and during cooking, resting, hottubbing, walking, cutting an apple, or putting on an audio. I kept my awareness on my body at all times, and I noticed a massive shift in consciousness.

This also caused more Release, and I found myself calling up a teacher at a Dallas meditation center to ask her a few questions about the technique. Graciously, she quelled all my doubts and fears.

By Day 20 I was wearing a belt, and each day after I had to reduce the notch more and more. I was loosing weight fast, yet the mind was balancing itself to levels I had never experienced. Each morning I began waking up immediately meditating focused on my breath or body. It was incredible. I was under a huge spell. The schedule had fully integrated itself into my mind, and I was almost on conscious autopilot, loving each moment of the intense days. I even received a email from a lady friend who offered to come visit at a future date, and my thoughts were incredibly pure about her. I was also able to let the thought of her go, and go back to my meditation without trouble. Attachment was being Rooted Out!

this hurts.

The second to last day I experienced the deepest release to date. I imagined myself being on a 30-day course (this is a goal for the summertime), and I thought it would take balls of steel to go through another 10 days of how I was feeling. It would be suicide. I was releasing so badly I was just short of mumbling and drooling. Not really, but the body was experiencing feelings of caving in on itself, fully tight in the chest. But then... Then light came at the end of the tunnel.

The last days I was at ease with everything in life. I was also at ease with Goenka's ego, as I began playing his audios again. I began feeling an overwhelming sense of love and humility for everything, as so much had been rooted out.

Breakthroughs and Ah-Ha Moments

email to a friend:

Dear E in Australia,

Back in Mar 2009 i made a comment to you about Eckhart Tolle and how i combed thru his book, put it into practice and realized for me something was missing or wrong, because after one month of doing it diligently, 'it didn't work'.

I just sat a 22day vipassana and the answer finally came to me with the help of Bhante V, a monk with some really simple and profound free audio on www.dhammasukha.org. one can download any for free b/c they are all good and with all the same message.

The answer was:

Some systems teach one to release (to Drop the thought). Only release, release, releasing the attachment to the hindrance that has come up doesn't work. One quickly goes back to it eventually.

And some systems pride themselves on their energy relaxations (this is what i was practicing when i met you). Only relax, relax, relaxing the tension of the body and opening the mind to this present moment doesn't work either. One goes back to a thought eventually.

The third component was missing when I read Tolle and put it into practice.

I needed to 1) accept and release the thought or attachment; I needed to 2) relax the tension in the body & expand the mind and smile; and I also needed to 3) "Return to my object of meditation". Whether that object is the Anapana breath or a body part etc. (some faith & devotion Divinity systems teach to place it onto the 'awareness of God').

Without the object of meditation and being relaxed, the mind goes back to something else. It is OK for one to have to correct oneself 100 time an hour, but so long as we loosen our identification with the thought or craving, relax and smile, then go back to meditation on an object, in time the hindrance lessens then goes away. They truly have no power.

Bhante V calls this the "6Rs" method (Recognize, Release and accept, Relax, ReSmile, Return to object, Repeat). He says one can 6R their way all the way to Nibanna. it helped me a lot during this sitting. when the mind got really tight, i relaxed, and returned to the meditation. when i was cooking and noticed tension or me doing something without awareness (ie: when the mind had no object of meditation), then I'd remember to relax, smile, and go back to keeping one part of the mind on some body part or scanning the body.

Perhaps this helps in some way. Each person's karma is different. I know this helped me, as I realized in the sitting that whenever I DO something in the world- an action- i do it 'as fast as i can to get it over with', fully unconscious. Now that i've realized this, i try to practice keeping an aspect of the mind on some body part to minimize the rolling in thoughts, which always creates unwholesome states/ programs. When the mind is on 'some' body part or the breath, we receive more energy because "energy flows where attention goes." without this focus, we loose energy to our rolling thoughts. And the thoughts aren't ours. They are the ego's (the pain body's).

Signed, Jan T.

Why do Vipassana?
One day while purchasing my items at the supermarket, I looked up at the cashier and noticed her mascara smeared down her face. So I said, "I like it here. This is a nice town."

She said, "Yeah, I like it too, been here all my life, except the people are filled with too much drama."

I left smiling at her and said, "I travel the world and no place that I have gone is without drama."

She agreed and lifted her tearful face with a smile.

Yes, it is true. As a world, we are all filled with drama. It doesn't serve us. It brings us pain. Yet we keep broadcasting it on television, and we keep promoting people who are filled with it. Vipassana is one technique that helps a person quickly disassociate themselves from the drama. Within a few months of practicing, I dare say that most all drama falls away.

This Present Moment: The Proof is in the Pudding

Placing your awareness on your body or breath at each moment keeps one in the present moment. It stops the mind from movng ahead in the unknown future. I am here doing laundry the day after this meditation speaking to a guy about his life. The vibrations coming off me are shocking even to me. I am acting so compassionately and sincerely with him. And I am doing things consciously in each moment.

There is a long way to go, as this rashness program still lives in me. But now I have a tool on how to slowly resolve it. I will work at this daily, building equanimity. I hope to take a longer course in the coming months to release more of this program. I know that soon will come a day where I will finally approach a normal level of existence and my mind will be quiet and happy. It's been a 5-year path so far since my car accident, and lord knows I have been consistent at mastering this mind of mine. I now have the tools to get me to the light. Meantime, I am happier and more able to help others on their path.

woohoo!

From the mountains of Pine, Arizona, this Jan Tijmes, aka: "John almost-Positive".

ps: if you want to see fact-for-fact how far this mind has come in under 2 years (since this blog began), click here to read about mental defilements back then. The comparison is shocking.

list of Mental Defilements blog
http://walkabout-liberation-tour.blogspot.com/2009/10/mental-blockages-from-walkabout.html
http://walkabout-liberation-tour.blogspot.com/2009/10/walkabout-liberation-dark-days-of.html
http://walkabout-liberation-tour.blogspot.com/2009/10/dear-age-to-my-norwegian-sri-sri-family.html

God Bless You All. It is clear to see why Buddha said "all existence is suffering." Because when you purify you life to higher levels, you begin to see the suffering of others at the lower levels (where you used to be) so clearly. He was fully purified to the highest level possible, so he could see this suffering in everything. With his insights, he left the world with 84,000 sermons on the theoretical teachings of all Life, and he left us a present to get us out of suffering. He left us Vipassana Meditation.

Why Go Walkabout? Walkabout Liberation Part II

2011-01-16T22:59:00.000-08:00

"What is a Walkabout?" Part II

Out of the blue, exactly two years after the start of Walkabout India, I find myself moving out of my cozy office in Houston, chucking everything into my little Corolla, and heading West for Walkabout Part II.

Where am I going? Not sure.

But this is part of a Walkabout: to release attachment and live with a deeper knowingness. It’s a chance to observe all the opportunities you attract, so you get a sense for where your vibration is. Make no mistake, this is life-training at its finest, so you have to be a nice guy out there.

And so I share with you all this little metaphor on where I believe we’re heading with society, as it relates to go Walkabout.

on one adventure I was crowned the king of Mt Abu, Rajasthan.

Once upon a time, there was a universe. And it had universal laws governing this universe. And men followed these laws like all the plants and animals. They lived in the present moment, they had sex in this present moment, and they hunted in this present moment. Men were nomads. They wandered and flowed like this great Energy that surrounds us all.

Then one day, man developed thought preferences.

“Nah, I don’t wanna do that hunting and moving around stuff today. I like it right here. I think I’ll stay. I don’t like all this change. I can find a way to get more by doing less.”

So man began using his brain matter to figure out how to evolve these laws of the universe to suit a lifestyle that did not flow like the universe. Man created stagnation. Man stopped movement. Man began to attach and cling to things; to accumulate things. Man created permanent, elaborate structures. Man created cities. And man developed ego. Another byproduct was that The Future was created. Before, man only lived in the present. But now, an entirely new time dimension was born!

One positive thing that happened from this was that whenever Mother Nature had a storm that caused severe famine or flooding, man’s new stagnant rules gave man a leg up in dealing with these catastrophes. Man had accumulated great surpluses of food and supplies to succeed through Mother’s panic attacks. Yet those nomads who had gone on living in the present moment oftentimes were adversely affected by these extreme hydrologic events.

Millennia would go by before a new evolution would begin. What if…. And I’m only thinking out loud here, but what if the best of both of these worlds could be merged and created?!

And so man would set out to upgrade these laws of nature once more.

And here we stand today.

Can man be at peace with the world; traveling, growing, living in one place, loving, or choosing whatever form of existence they wish; celebrating life for once on this planet? Can we all get along? Because we’re all in this together, and there’s no One Right Way. It’s quite gray and fuzzy.

And so the Walkabout was born.

More precisely, the Walkabout Liberation was born; a 'seek and find' system of how to be happy by releasing all attachment energy from the mind to live anywhere- in one place or moving- and in either of these scenarios be absolutely released from attachment and judgment (what the Buddha called, Dukha, or suffering).

Buddha found the cure for suffering and walked the Indian Subcontinent sharing the cure. Jesus learned the Divine Connection and walked from Israel to India healing and teaching. And for millions of years before these two Giants were Zoraster, Moses, an innumerable amount of other Buddhas, and a bagillion other great teachers, like J. Krishnamurti, who also took to the streets and walked their cures from door-to-door after searching far and wide for them.

It's written in our DNA. It has to do with movement, flow, dynamism, and change.

Does a Walkabout Work?

Each person is unique, so I can't say it's for everyone.

A walkabout is just one way of finding oneself (there are thousands of other ways to do this), collecting data, and experiencing life. It reacquaints us with the laws of the flowing universe, governed by the Biggest law of them all: Change.

Yeah! just picked up a new mini-laptop to document all the stories of Walkabout II

There are lower=vibration=Walkabouts and there are Higher=Vibration=Walkabouts.

How is City Energy different than Movement Energy?
In the city, there are certain rules that always apply. And when we're in the flow of the universe, other rules apply. If you’re asking yourself how to go on Walkabout, then you might wanna listen closely. Take a look at some of the comments on my first post about “What is a Walkabout”. People thought I would die and that I’d never make it across the world without money. But instead I was donated about $6000 throughout the 14 months from many beautiful people to help make that trip possible.

My mom likes to say, “Jan, don’t you need a job? Don’t all your friends have jobs?”

And so we begin with the First major difference between the stagnant and flowing universe. In stagnant universe, people need jobs. Status is very important, so jobs help bring in money, so flashy things can be adorned and lavished. My mom is asking this question to me based on her training of having lived in a city her whole life. (I want to point out that movement does not mean restless mind that has to move and react at all times. I am talking about a profound connection with Divine Energy that causes us to not think at all.)

Stagnant Universe (City Life and most western society including most country folk)

Status

Jobs/ money
Business energy
Accumulation
Calculation and being crafty

Little physical movement (sports are invented to make up for this)

Weight gain & Disease

I, Me, & Mine exist

Reaction

Separation

Think

“We had a Moment!” a clinging in everyone we meet.

Fear

Universe Energy

We are equal

I will find what I need as the birds find what they need.

Flowing. Movement is a part of each aspect of life.

Purity and Health

Knowingness/ purified instincts

Whole; what I do to one affects another.

Follow Energy/ Don’t Think

More girls will come around, no need to cling.

Trust

Once we recognize that there are a different set of laws, then we can put ourselves into alignment with the laws we wanna play with.

So if you want to go on Walkabout, it would be helpful to trust more and have a profound knowingness by releasing fear. Have I mastered this? Whattaya nuts? I was trained with stagnant city rules, so I’m still untraining myself. But the goal of a walkabout should definitely have this component in it: to release.

Do you have to go on a Walkabout to figure this stuff out?

Nope. I just love traveling and wedging myself into different people’s lives.

Pros & Cons of a Woman on Walkabout:

Women will get lots of freebies.
It can be dangerous in some places for Women.
Women can find themselves in sexually confrontational situations.
Women need to learn how to sell themselves and open up more in this male-dominated world, so men can treat them as equals (or even to acknowledge them depending on the country you're in).
Women can find themselves in deeper, more secretive locations by men who wish to share them. In the city they would call this 'sleeping my way to the top' Haha.....
There is more growth for the female species when a Woman chooses to Walkabout.
Overall this Walkabout will be kinder and gentler.

Pros & Cons of a Male on Walkabout:

Men get fewer handouts than women unless they are in male-dominated countries like India.
A Male's Walkabout can potentially be filled with more growth due to less hand-outs. They have to grow more to become nicer and more open, if they understand this is the training. But because this is a male-dominated world, this evens out.
Men have to hunt more for the treasures, but the mind of men enjoys the challenge.
Men can travel the globe without problems, except in some countries that pretend they are other planets.
Overall this Walkabout will be rougher and more anger-ridden or adventurous.

So enough with the series of Walkabout thoughts.. All day I'm driving now for two days, and already the original idea of going to California has shifted into something completely different. Changing, changing. Harder still to not think about all the potential future events that will soon play out on their own.

I bid you all goodnight and farewell.++

Keep posted on where this Walkabout Liberation Part II evolves.

From the Arizona Mountains, this is Jan Tijmes, aka….

Some energy or mass of energy bubbles within a seemingly physical body that upon closer inspection is also just more transparent energy.

What is a Walkabout Part I

~Show me the Breath of God in all things~

Sankharas: I only Love Myself- a lesson in Attachment

2011-01-01T20:17:00.000-08:00

The beginning stages of love can be a real bitch. I’m gonna be a little blunt here, but I’ll back it up with spiritual science. I just got off a 12 day Vipassana Meditation here at my house and I noticed something really interesting.

Om.....

I did the 12 days in the back part of the house, separate from the other roommates. But we did have to share the common kitchen area, near my meditation area. Twice during this meditation a full day would go by with a massive wave of Attachment Energy that would arise to the surface of my Mind and become this wall of negativity. It was so over-powering.

This wall of Attachment would try to make me attach to anything and everything it could to make me get really pissed about something. Heck, that’s the Program of ego-energy! It makes you attach to things. It's all the same, whether you call it Ego, negative energy, metal impurities, or Programs (for all you guys in Personal Development-Land).

Anyways, my roommates would come downstairs and obviously have to use the kitchen to cook from time to time, and I would hear it through the door. Sometimes one of them would cackle on the phone to a friend or make coffee all day long, wake up late, or practice some form of spirituality that I ‘knew’ was not the form they should be practicing for their unique life-challenges. And this wave of Attachment would over-power me and make me place all my hatred and anger onto this poor roommate of mine.

It wasn’t that they were doing anything wrong. They were just living. But attachment is attachment, and when it’s chissled away from the depths of the mind and allowed to come up to the surface (that’s how it works in sensation-based Vipassana), then you gotta fight really hard to remain equanimous and balanced through this wave of Ego that arises.

Gotama Buddha

What is this Attachment?

Buddha called them ‘Sankharas’, or mental volitions. They are the mental reaction patterns of the mind when we go unconscious and react towards something. Whether we react with tension, anger, jealousy, happiness, depression, etc, attachment is attachment, and these Sankharas build up in the Mind Energy and over time solidify as a habit-pattern that makes us react a particular way again and again until we vow to change that pattern.

Wow, that's mouthful. Did you get that?

So it wasn’t my roommate at all! It was that I had awakened all these Sankharas, and now, due to past conditioning of my mind, my roommates became the object of my attachment and judgment. A full day would go by and then my roommate would do something very special, like buy me food and leave it in the fridge for my lunch. I would almost start crying, because I’d realize how poisoned my mind was and what an asshole I was for wanting to cut her head off just one day before.

So where am I going with this?

Well 2,500 years ago, Gotama Buddha was teaching Vipassana Meditation to millions across northern India. One day, a king and queen were meditating in their castle, when the King received some insight. He realized he only loved himself. So he asked his Queen, his wife.

“Whom do you love the most?”

The Queen answered, “Well, I received the same insight during my meditation, and I realized I too only love myself!”

Both King and Queen told the Buddha of their experience, and the Buddha smiled in approval.

What had happened was that the King and Queen had 'cut through' all of their Attachment (their sankharas) during their meditation to see clearly their love for one another. And in this state free from attachment, they realized they only loved themselves, because saying, “I love you,” meant that you wanted something of another person. It was love with Attachment, rather than love free from attachment (one-way traffic love)!

In other words, there was no Attachment Energy left in their minds to feel attached to each other. It was detached and joyful love, which is ultimately the highest kind of love. In this state, one Gives to the other without needing something in return. No lust, no passion. And that only comes when you fully love yourself and are free from fear or free from this Attachment energy that makes us grip to anything around us for existence.

a sweet meditation cabin i found on google images :)

So I’m almost to the point of this article....

I’ve come to realize that the beginning states of Love (the infatuation stage) are only a wave of over-powering passion-filled Attachment Energy that arises from the bowels of our minds and surfaces as an explosive craving to be with the object of our attachment (ie: the chick we totally dig!). It doesn’t matter who it is!

I must have fallen for about 4 women in the past 2 years, and in each case, there was a massive wave of attachment energy that would cause me to think incessantly about that person and dwell on the ‘what ifs’ and future that hadn’t even happened. It was all illusion! And maybe only 1 of those girls were actually Mrs. Right.

In each case, within a week, the object of my attachment (the woman) would move on and I'd be stuck with this attachment in the form of Love Desire.

So....
After that 12-day vipassana self-course meditation and watching my mind grip towards my roommate for doing something trivial, and me focusing all my mind’s attention on it until I’d almost burn a hole right through her (figuratively speaking), I see how this is the exact same Energy that arises in my mind when the object becomes a potential future lover.

And Fuck that sucks!

(as I clear my non-enlightened throat).

So I find that my BIGGEST recent challenge has been when I am anticipating a new lover coming into my life. Soon after this anticipation (the Buddha called this, "Clinging"), attachment begins to arise ("Craving"), as I imagine myself with almost every girl I meet. Then finally, my attention focuses like a laser on One Particular Person as the object of my desire.

For all I know, maybe she’s the farthest thing from the person I actually need in my life. But my mind has fixated on it, so I’m lost in the over-powering, swift, perverted current of the river called attachment.

Sure enough, just as fast as the attachment for a lady comes, it goes! Just like it did with my roommates in the kitchen as I sat meditating 12 days for 10 hours a day. Attachment would arise, find something to fixate on, grab onto it, try to over-power me, then dissolve sometime later.

It was always up to me to keep my mind equanimously focused on the meditation. This would fully dissolve those sankharas within 24 hours. (What's scientifically happening with these “Sankharas”, or old habit patterns of the mind, is that these unnatural energy vibrations of the mind are being re-written with healthier energy vibrations in each vipassana meditation.)

So it’s the same story for my infatuations. I have to remain as balanced as possible through the arising of the attachment and subsequent fixation. If she’s the right one for me, then I know that she’ll still be there after the Attachment storm has passed.

And when it passes, again I’ll be left with the Truth that both King and Queen had during that meditation 2,500 years ago; the realization that “I only love myself.”

Look, Ma, no attachment!

May you all be happy, healthy, Peaceful, and liberated.

Love your partner without Attachment. Do things for them without needing anything in return. Remember, at the depths of the Mind, you only love yourself, because you are the only one you're accountable for.

Jan Tijmes

The John Positive Company

Walkabout Liberation

c2011

A website about one’s travels to purify the Mind of all Attachment, for Awakening and Liberation.
Vipassana is a form of meditation that allows for a person to release tension, fear, and judgment energies from one's mind at very fast and deep levels.

The 8 Levels of Personal Development Growth in Vipassana, et al

2010-12-02T09:36:00.001-08:00

Oftentimes when we set out for Liberation of the Mind and the Spiritual Lifestyle, we find ourselves at different stages of our growth when studying a Personal Development System.

Below I have listed 8 Levels a person goes through when they find a new personal development system or have been studying one for some time. I can only hope this provides some balance for those who find themselves (or someone they love) with their lives upside-down, confused by what is happening to them while training an Advanced Personal Development System.

Some examples of Advanced Personal Development include:

Studying with a guru, like Sri Sri Ravi Shankar or Sri Sathya Sai Baba, studying with an energy master, like Master Sha or Master Aiping Wang, studying an advanced form of meditation, or attending a school that specializes in healing.

One point I wish to make is to understand that we are all unique with different quantities and qualities of karma. This is our soul's growth level. Is our soul fairly 'new', not having achieved much wisdom and good deed karma? Is our soul older, having integrated many more life-lessons into our core foundation? Our 'soul maturity' is the main ingredient that changes how people go through the 8 Levels of Personal Development Growth below.

Level 1: The Search

Intentionally or unintentionally, a person finds themselves searching for something to help them deepen their Release of old mental habit patterns (stagnant energy or ways of living). There are some challenges that are coming up in life, and they seek to resolve these challenges. Again, consciously or unconsciously, one realizes their problems are rooted in deep-seated mental programs that are not natural due to the perceived 'negative' feelings or judgments or anxiety that continues to arise.

Level 2: The Hook

One finds something that appears to have some merit to it. A personal development system has been found. One is new and just getting into it. One is realizing the value of the system or the teachings. One is still hesitant and rooted in old beliefs and ways of viewing the world, but one sees value in this new way and needs to explore for themselves where it will take them.

Level 3: The Addiction

The value of the system and the teachings has been experienced. Now one can't get enough. No matter what, a person wants to experience the system again and again. One isn't ready to give up on all the past teachings they have come across, but they are fully engrossed and welcoming this new teaching as the highest one they have come across to date. On the plus side, one is receiving lots of benefit, because they are very open to the teaching, sucking it up like a sponge. One begins Releasing quite a bit.

Level 4: The Warrior

Like a new recruit in an army, one begins to taut this system, its teachings, and even its unique vocabulary as The Way, The Truth, and The Light. Others can perceive this person as though they are in a cult. One's form of study (living of life) becomes very narrow, focused only on the system and its teachings. All other teachings fall away, though have been integrated in some level. One talks constantly about the system. One's friendships only revolve around that system, and one feels lost or angry outside of the system. One's life energy and thoughts are fully vibrating at the vibration of the system. Teachings, songs, vocabulary- anything in a system- can tend to be very focused, very narrow, making them powerful, yet 'narrow'. One is Releasing at extremely fast paces.

Level 5: The Break

For some reason or another, the time of massive growth speed slows down. The climax has been reached, this time around. A few weeks before the climax (depending on timescale of this situation) and a few weeks after this climax is known as The Break.

Level 6: The Integration

Some time passes, and one lives in Society System again (what's also known as "The Real World"). One may feel somewhat lost or disappointed that the rest of the world is not on the same level (or vibration). There are various stages to this integration process itself. One sees the world through the eyes of the system, yet also through the eyes of the world. One communicates to others in the ways of the system yet also in the ways of the world. One 'thinks' in the ways of the system and in the ways of the world, as life energy begins to be influenced by the energies outside the system. One sees the applicability of the system in the Real World with a fresh perspective. One also wonders who they are. Like a child, one begins exploring again.

Level 7: The Upgrade

More time passes, One's energy has reintegrated to the energy of society, yet at a higher level. One is practicing the system and has found a way to integrate it into their life, so it works well with the structure of society. It is at this level that someone can begin making balanced (equanimous) changes in their surroundings, in the world. One is part of the world and part of something greater; and vibrating at higher mastery of society system. One has more insights into society. One sees it from a higher level. One is less quick to judge or react or speak too soon on something. One has new wisdom and a higher morality fully integrated into their entire being. One is using their own vocabulary and ways of living, having fully integrated what works for them from the system they are practicing. One thinks for themselves, yet at higher levels having integrated the teachings and gone back to the ways their unique life energy lives life. One is not as dogmatic or narrow as they used to be in earlier levels. One is more natural and in tune with their unique gifts, not the gifts that the system solely stresses. One begins listening to themselves more as their own guidance system. One is even happy to be working a 'normal' job again in society. The major Releases that have taken place have properly settled and continue to release at manageable level that resonate with society. Like the Integration Level, this Level can also take on a few stages.

Level 8: The Trip

We've tripped the wires of normalcy. Something stirs within the soul and sets one off to begin wanting more at deeper levels again. We find ourselves back at Level 1. Our choice is to go back to our current system of teachings and learning for deeper Release, devotion, and learning, or to find a new system in the event the old system did not fully appeal to our energy. If a person goes back to Level 1, they are able to go back to a system they have been practicing with more wisdom and more detachment, to absorb the experience at a deeper and more equanimous level.

An example of this lesson would be me going to India to study with 2 gurus and meditate Vipassana for a year. Levels 1 thru 4 took place for me while in India staying at designated Vipassana facilities.

I remember listening to other students speak at the lunchroom tables about Vipassana, and they were mostly regurgitating the main teacher's (SN Goenka) exact words from his 10 discourses. Some of these students had been meditating the system for years. Oftentimes, these students had not left the centers for long periods of time, thereby not fully integrating or upgrading their levels of being. They were thinking through the mind of the teacher, and not through their own minds. I would also do this. You can't help it. When you hear only one way over and over, it begins to bubble out of you.

For this reason it is important (though we never want it when it is presented to us) to reach a climax, have a break, and process what we have learned.

Upon returning to the USA, I experienced Levels 5 thru 8. And this is where I find myself today; Level 8, stirring to now go deeper to release programs of the mind that aren't serving me anymore, so I may continue working with clients and not be affected by some things that have been coming up as much.

It was only because I had trained so many other personal development systems before joining Vipassana that I could see this process so clearly when I began meditating under Goenka's Vipassana. I knew I was 'joining' an organization (the group headed by Goenka) that was going to have its own laws, bylaws, songs, culture, vocabulary, meditations, and ways of living. By knowing what I was getting into (every personal development system is like this), it allowed me to be a little more balanced, rather than dogmatic, throughout the whole process; especially during the Warrior Level. (just a little :)

Some decisions I have chosen while away from the personal development system that I practice would not be approved of at all. Yet these are decisions I have had to make in order to properly integrate what I had learned and unlearned in the previous year. I was like a young child touching the hot stove again to see what worked and what my new-found abilities were.

I use my mind and body as a laboratory experiment. I am the cook, and I also get to taste what comes out of the oven. Sometimes I add ingredients and subtract ingredients to see what works for my unique energy and for a unique situation. Sometimes I win, sometimes I lose. But I always learn, and I always grow to respect the reason a personal development system has a certain rule they follow.

I am now ready to go back to a Vipassana center for another few months to release more and absorb more at deeper levels of my being. The 8 Levels have come full-circle. And I see this in many people I know who train their unique systems.

One woman who is a Soul Retrieval expert will take off 6 months of each year to meditate in order to connect faster and smoother to people's energy and 'soul-pieces'. This is her way of going deeper when needed. Others choose to live at a Guru or teacher's property or take a deepening course for a few days, weeks, or months per year. There is a constant ebb and flow of learning, release, and integration.

I hope this helps some of you on the path. And may you continuously open up to receive the blessings that you are being showered with each moment of your life.

Jan

The John Positive Co.

~May all beings, invisible or visible, be Happy.~

Wonderful Jacob's Well Wimberley, TX for Thanksgiving

2010-11-28T20:04:00.001-08:00

Just leaving Wimberley TX after 4 days in th beautiful Texas Hill Country with family for Thanksgiving. We totaled 14 people and 3 dogs at my folk's new home to share our gratitude for this past year. Truly it was special to get together and see the whole family n one place after so long.

Wimberley is a quaint community to walkabout to. If you’re into artistic things or nature, then Wimberley is the place for you. We visited the secluded Jacob’s Well, a 32 foot deep hole that is the headwaters of the area’s water supply and a new tributary that forms off the river system of Wimberley area. It is part of the Edwards Aquifer limestone unit.

A cravace in the 32 foot crystal-clear water pit leads to a 140 foot deep hole that extends about 5800 feet inside via a 3-tunnel systems into the underground formation. It can be found on USGS Jacob's Well data loggers for temperature and cfs readings. Here's a picture of the well swallowing me whole!

Navy Seals have used it for decades to train in, and even 14 people have died over the last century, with the last being in 1979. A buddy of my brother’s lives a block away in some cute townhomes and met us each day out there.

There were some divers there the last day filming a documentary on it, and said to watch out for ScubaDudePoductions on-line to catch the latest on Jacob’s Well. They’ve been shooting footage and researching it for 2 years.

The weekend was hectic. It’s tough to mastermind a family gathering with food, 3 dogs, and 2 kids less than 5 years old. But I don’t think my mom lost too many grey hairs. I hope.

Our entire family was there. Plus my mom’s best friend from Chile was visiting with her husband and daughter who said it was the best time they had had in the United States in the past few months. I hadn't seen them since Chile back in 2000 or so. They all enjoyed the things to do in Wimberley like the Christmas Parade, the Wimberley shopping by the picturesque Blanco River, and cute coffee shops.

Considering there’s about 50 other cute hill country towns to choose from in Texas, I don’t know how my folks found this little gem. It has lots of character, and I hope to enjoy years and years of future gatherings there. I felt us 4 brothers really opened up to each other deeper than we had in a long time.

Wimberley Glassworks

Wimberley Unity Church

Wimberley Ino’s

Wimberley Silver Shops….

Liberation Realizations:

The complexities of today's living seem to culminate into a hailstorm of tension around the holidays. There were days together when things got stressful; then they would climax with someone reaching their stress threshold as the noise would come back down to natural levels.

It was always a reminder to keep things simple. Life is simple. We brought a whole lot of things out to Wimberley. But little of it was necessary. Humans are an inherently simple species. It was the quiet times in our backyard with the light sun grazing our faces sitting amongst each other that were the best times of all. A softness seemed to touch our hearts and relax our minds, as we’d reach deeper levels in our communication with one another.

Another realization was that one person cannot be in charge of everything. Delegate! I got in this trouble a few years back when I tried to control the whole world with my mind. I would keep tabs on everything in my life, and I’d try to do it all at the same time. But I would exhaust myself, and hit mental brick walls.

Know that someone has the responsibility for their kids. Another person watches over the dogs. And another is in charge of the food. Separate the duties. Then you have more time to take care of your tasks while adding a little Rest and Relaxation for yourself.

"We can't play God with our minds." I was once told this by one of my teachers, Beverly Anderson. We must learn how to trust that others are caring for of their respnsibilites, and we cannot worry over them doing or not doing their jobs. We must trust, with faith, that everything is being taken care of.

So all in all it was such a fabulous weekend! Looking forward to more fun in the near future, Wimberley has a special energy to it making it a great destination for a walkabout.

May all beings be peaceful and prosperous.

Jan Tijmes

Releasing the Cloud: How to Ground Oneself and Let Go of Bad Energy Vibes

2010-09-13T14:51:00.000-07:00

<-<-<- Previous Walkabout Liberation blog on Dematerialization <-<-<-

I remember going to a house party in Sedona a few years ago. One man was in the corner of the room, almost unable to talk to anyone. When I asked him what was the matter, he told me he could see energy and that everyone’s negative energy was affecting him. He was an empath, and he could see people’s auras. I wanted to help, but I realized it was going to take a bit of explanation for me to do this.

Well, a few days ago something funny happened. I found myself in the middle of a small drama with a few friends. Before I knew it, my mind had become fully attached to the problem, and I quickly developed a cloud of negative energy around me. I felt like that guy at the party; immobile and powerless. There was nothing I could do to get out of it.

Or was there....

What I wanted to tell this friend at the party was that he had to begin training ‘strength’. He had to begin training, ‘being in the body’. He had to begin training ‘being grounded’. Energy is the most powerful substance in existence, so we need to learn how to train the right aspects of this energy.

We’re all being affected by everyone’s energy all the time. In a sense, we’re all empaths or empathic to the world around us. Yet, being an empath or feeling/ knowing someone’s energy doesn’t mean we must absorb it. We must have wisdom to know when an aspect of energy will harm us and choose not to allow it to do so.

It’s like the personal development mantra, “We get what we focus on. Focusing on the problem only brings more problems, but focusing on the solution brings more solutions.” And this is a key to your liberation.

If I allow a situation’s energy to affect me, then my mind has become infatuated with the problem, not the solution.

As an example, if I think, say, or do something about a person or to a person, then I am transmitting a message with energy in it. And if this message is harmful, it could affect that person if they haven’t trained how to let things bounce off them.

Gotama Buddha had mastered this ability 2500 years ago. He said, “If you come to me with anger, then I’ll ask you to keep it. Anger is like a present that I do not accept. I will ask you to take it back home with you.” Buddha was very strong and confident with himself. He was filled with sympathetic joy, yet he would block any negative energies from interfering with his mind. And he was confident in this, because he was constantly performing moral actions which would yield positive results.

So what worked for me the other day when I found myself surrounded by negative energy? And what are some techniques we can all benefit from when we find ourselves overtaken by our minds?

1) Become physically active! Have someone guide you, so your mind goes to rest faster! This technique is what released the drama cloud from me a few days back.

a. Do a Yoga Class with an Instructor: A class where someone else teaches you is very important. It let’s your mind get out of the way, so your body can heal. In Chinese Metaphysics, they say, “Thinking blocks the flow of energy.”

b. Ecstatically Dance! There’s nothing like putting on the music for 40 minutes and letting loose in the house with no one to judge you. Jump, hop, stretch, sway, tumble, hip-hop, do it all. Let your body talk! The body’s circulation will release bad vibes naturally. In Houston, you can ecstatic dance every Sunday morning from 10am to noon near Sheppard & Memorial: (www.EcstaticDanceHouston.com).

c. Do sprinting exercises with fast repetitions of pushups and sit ups in between, or go to a gym and do a fast-paced workout. Push yourself. Don’t stop for 30 minutes or longer!

d. Do Crazy Exercises: A form of Qigong, CRZ-X is where you jog and run while standing in place for 30 minutes, allowing your body to breathe in the sun and fully relax while moving: (www.wefarewell.com/CRZ-X_Qigong.html).

2) Be with Open Nature: Visit the beach, take a salt-water bath, sit in an open field outside of the city, sit near a pond or lake. Sit near flowers. Water and open nature absorbs and blows away all your troubles.

3) Meditate or Relax: If you have a technique that works, then use it! Otherwise, one of the best meditations for bringing energy to oneself is Anapana breathing with Vipassana Meditation: (www.walkabout-liberation-tour.blogspot.com/2010/07/anapana-how-cesar-milans-way-for.html).

4) Chant or Sing! Om… Chanting and heavy singing brings in a powerful vibration that pushes out any unhealthy vibrations around you. Dr. Sha has mastered this ancient art: (www.drsha.com/).

5) Go See a Healer! Healings by another person can release the negative energy from around us in no time flat. Even talking to a friend skilled in the art of listening can do this. The challenge is that this method can sometimes be temporary if the healing isn’t deep enough or if we don’t learn how to not let this happen again. But if you stay focused on training ‘being in the body’, you will get much better at this. At my company, John Positive, we do make the effort to get people on this positive track.

I hope this helps some of you. I know these have helped me in the past. This topic is a life-long commitment to one’s happiness and well-being. It helps to have a “mastermind group”, an “A-Team”, or a personal coach to call on in those times of need. Sometimes an open heart and a shoulder to lean on is exactly what we need most to turn our situation around.

I encourage you all to pre-program your phone with the numbers of some positive people you can rely on it that time of need. Call on them when you need the support. I will offer myself for you as well. My number is 281-4one4-7895.

And if all else fails, just remember the most powerful teaching from the Buddha. He said, “Everything is Anicca: arising and passing away. If you don’t like this moment, it shall pass. And if you like this moment, it too shall pass. Just remain aware. Just observe. Do not dance with joy or become saddened with depression when something good or bad happens. Become a witness to it all.”

Jan Tijmes is a soul healer and life-coach with offices in Houston, TX under the name The John Positive Company (www.Houston-Spiritual-Healing.com). He provides Soul Healing, Soul Retrieval, Chakra Balancing, and Life-Coaching services to people in Houston, TX and nationwide.

->->-> Next WalkaboutLiberation blog ->->->

Dematerialization of the Human Body with Virgil Posti Armstrong

2010-08-21T13:52:00.000-07:00

<-<- Previous Walkabout Liberation Posting <-<-

I first met Posti Armstrong in Sedona, AZ in 2007, in the old-folks wing of a house I was renting in the Village of Oak Creek (VOC), AZ. He was 84 years old and somewhat paralyzed due to a number of strokes he had endured in recent years. But you could tell he was a strong fellow. In fact, at 84, he could eat just about any type of food, the worst of the worst, and his body was still maintaining. He had good genes and a pig’s blood-type.

Within a few days of living in the house, the owner told me I would get along well with the old man, so one day I walked into his wing and introduced myself.

“Virgil? Hi, I’m Jan, I live here now, and I’m into spirituality and life mastery; you know, Liberation of the Mind. I just wanted to say hello.”

He was trembling a little. Weak. Skinny. You could see he was vigorous in his youth, a mean mother-fucker, not to be messed with. He sat silently checking me out, when finally, he warmed up and shared a little about his life.

The first few encounters were quiet and simple, with Virgil doing most the talking. Then one day, he opened up.

He started, “...

I am the reincarnation of General Custer. You know, the asshole who killed all them Indians. Early in my life I came to know this was true. I had to make good on that in this lifetime. I spent the first 30 years of my life creating programs for the American Indians to benefit from, through our US Government. Hell I was giving speeches on the Illuminati, UFO’s, and conspiracy theories back in the 60’s, when I was in the CIA, before that shit was popular. I even wrote a book on Jesus’ 12 female disciples.

I was in the war. This was in the 50’s.They called me “Posti”, short for Postlethwaite. I was in some serious ambushes, death all around. This is when I came to know that I was being protected from the other side. One time we were fully raided, all of us running away from the enemy. I was praying, “Take me, Take me! Don’t kill my men. It was dreadful out there. I hated it, but I was always surviving when everyone around me was dying.”

My men were dropping like flies. One by one I watched each of them get gunned down from my left and right. I watched bullets whizzing by me, and with the amount of them flying, I knew I should be dead. In fact, I watched a few that appeared to fly right through me. I know I was being protected, but I didn’t yet know why. I believe now it had to do with helping the Indians and reaching higher levels in spirituality.

After the war I started to play with my energy. For some strange reason, I was beginning to see people’s energy or aura aura clearly. In time, I would fully dematerialize my human body. Do you understand what that means?

“Is that when you can make your energy really strong or something?” Honestly, I was clueless when he said the word, “dematerialize”. Thinking about it now, it makes more sense.

He continued, “...

I loved to go into movie theaters and sit in the back watching people’s auras. It was amazing. I could see them so clearly. You can’t see it when you look straight at people. You gotta look indirectly at them and see with your peripheral vision at first. I’d be able to tell immediately who was a good person and who was a bad person. I could see holes in their auras, imbalances in their shapes, colors, it was neat. And soon I could play with their auras. (Beware, this is ‘dangerous’ if anyone tries this at home. You must be willing to reap the Universe’s consequences if you alter someone else’s energy without their consent.)

At night, I began practicing on my own aura. I put a mirror in front of me and a piece of clear white cloth behind me along with good lighting in the room. Within a few days or weeks, I could clearly see my own aura.

I (Jan Tijmes) had had some long conversations with the owner of the house who had heard many of Virgil's stories. Virgil had mentioned these on numerous occasions to her, yet she never thought twice about them. Each story would give a glimpse to the mental power, strength, and focus he had; stories about aliens, evil forces that he had to stand up to, and fascinating channellings.

I’ll add that it can be challenging to strengthen the mind to deep and focused levels, and for the average person, the levels of Posti’s mind are damn near impossible. (It has a lot to do with destiny and capacity, yet anything is possible if you set your mind to it.)

He continued, “...

Within a few weeks, I was noticing my ability to shift and alter my own aura. I could make it bulge out huge over my head. I could make it bulge out my side. It could get really big and really small all by the focus of my mind.

It may have been a few months into my practice every night when something bizarre happened.

I was making my aura move and grow with precision. It was moving and altering its shape to my will as I’d watch myself in the mirror. Then, suddenly, I disappeared.

“What do you MEAN you disappeared!!?”

I mean, I disappeared. I felt the same as you right now; I was fucking freaked out. I mean I disappeared; dissolved. I had fully dematerialized my human body. And there was no instruction manual to tell me how to come back. I was looking straight at myself in the mirror in front of me and all of me was not there.

I spent a few minutes in that plane after which time I suddenly began to reappear. Piece by piece of me began appearing in the mirror until my body was fully in front of me and I was touching it again.

I was quite freaked out about the experience, and I spent probably a few weeks after it just contemplating what had happened. Heck maybe a few months passed. That was like 40 years ago it’s hard to tell.

But then I realized what I had done. And if I did it once, I could certainly do it again. And so I began practicing. I spent each night again after work practicing on my aura. In time, I was able to reproduce the results. I slowly became better at it. And finally, I was able to reproduce results at will.

I remember the first time I called my girlfriend into the room and told her I wanted to show her something. She stood there smiling as I readied myself. I began altering my aura, I began expanding energetically, then suddenly, I vaporized and dematerialized in front of her. I could do it for others!

But she almost had a heart attack. She broke down completely and almost lost it. I think I pulled the rug of life right out from under her; when you witness your own lover begin to physically disappear right before your eyes, what do you do?

I was able to come back again and show her that it was alright. She recovered.

Ooh, but “they” didn’t like the work I was doing. You see, when you leave your body or your "reality spectrum" by altering your vibration, and you are in other dimensions of energy, you have to deal with all sorts of other beings occupying that space. There were so many beings I had to work with or even fight to maintain my stance on. With my mental strength I kept them from harming me, but it was hard work. They’d come after me, but I was always stronger in mind. I knew what I could do.

I began speaking in Germany and Austria. Lots of European talks. I spoke about so many topics, stuff that was way beyond its time. All of it had to do with aliens and UFOs and just crazy stuff that I was beginning to witness with my own self. I wrote a few small books, mostly self-published, on these topics. I knew it was all true, because I was seeing or channeling this stuff directly.

After a few talks in Europe, some of the audience members had found out about my ability. So I’d show a few. Behind the curtains I’d spend a few minutes dematerializing my human body for them. Now that’s a real disappearing act. Quite a few people probably witnessed it through the decades. My girlfriend still flies in to see me now and again from Europe, so you can ask her about it.

But that’s all you gotta know for now. If this is for you, then you’ll do the work then come find me for the next clues. It’s gotta become your Number 1 Goal. Get started on that. Get good at seeing you aura and the aura of others. Get good at altering your aura. Start with the peripheral vision. Then I’ll share with you more.”

But that was the last time I would ever speak to Virgil Postlethwaite Armstrong again. The house I was renting was so riddled with bad spirits and evil that I moved out within a few weeks. I don’t think there was anyone who had talked to him in over 10 years who cared much about his past abilities. He was fascinating and ahead of his time.

Within a year he would breathe his last breath. Though he appeared happy due to his strong mind, he died quite lonely; his family rarely visiting him and thinking he was a loony. And his caretakers had scammed him from living the last years of his life in a happy and healthy way.

I have a great graph showing the spectrum of energy that exists in the universe that NASA put out a few years ago. In it, you clearly see how small the visible light spectrum of the human eye is. So it appears that what Posti did was increase his vibration to just beyond the visible light spectrum, so he was invisible to the human eye light spectrum and now living and seeing things in a higher energy spectrum. It’s similar to TM practitioners who have mastered increasing their organ vibrations, thereby enabling themselves to levitate a few feet in the air for short periods of time.

I mentioned this story to an expert named Jimmy Allen a few days after Posti had shared this story with me. My friend was training a method of personal development where a person receives strong bursts of universe energy to release old accumulated energy from their organs. Energy Training is when you learn how to make yourself more in balance with the flow of the universe. This comes by releasing old energy and receiving purified energy over many years. No more up and down erratic cycles; only positive, peaceful, and happy living.

Jimmy’s response was simple. “Well, that’s energy.”

I asked him to explain.

Jimmy said, “Well, Posti never formally trained his energy capacity. He never improved his Life Energy. He used his mental strength, which is very exhausting on the human body, and pushed beyond the limits of current human levels. This caused him to have strokes in his later years and die at the age of 85 instead of, say, 120. He had the ability to live much longer. Energy training is about placing your health first and living for longevity.

(I'll add that one of my favorite healers, Ron Roth, also had this challenge in his healing tenure. He passed so much energy through his body in a massive healing event that he suffered an incredible stroke in 2001. A few strokes continued through future years until his untimely death in 2009. He was one of the greatest healers of our time.)

“Everything he did was ‘using himself’. Energy Training is about learning how to use the Universe’s energy to do all the work; not use the mind. Let’s say we want something. Then we request it and ride the tide of the universe’s energy allowing the energy to bring it to us without much effort. But we have to be doing positive action, filled with faith.

“Had Posti trained his energy, he could have been a Master at his life and died with 1000s of people by his side, teaching millions. But instead he died a poor and lonely man.”

I could see what Jimmy meant. But at the same time, that wasn't Posti's initial goal. Posti’s generation didn’t have a lot of the knowledge that we have today. And even in our generation, Posti Armstrong is far ahead of it. I know that because energy never dies, Posti will be back again in another life as another person. Just like all the other heroes who were far beyond their time, heroes like Timothy Treadwell who was eaten alive by a bear or Christopher McCandless from "Into the Wild"; they will all be back to do this life again. They will be our future leaders of society when they return and get it right. They will inspire the millions that they have the capacity of inspiring.

We could also look at this from Gotama Buddha's standpoint. Buddha taught that one should never focus on the phenomena. One should just focus on changing the negative habit patterns of the mind with something like Vipassana meditation. In time, one will receive many abilities naturally, and your morality will have improved alongside your abilities giving you a less chance of misusing your newfound abilities. You will be more well-rounded as a person and reduce any chance for coming back in a future lifetime at a lower plane where there exists more suffering.

As Warren Buffet likes to say, “Every saint has a past, and every sinner has a future.”

Those who have liberated themselves to the highest levels of earthly enlightenment have all had to go through even the darkest lifetimes of “training” here on earth. Depression and/ or misuse of power. And those who are currently in their darkest lifetime will surely come to know the peace and blissful liberation that exists deep within them in a future lifetime (or even in this one).

Posti, you'll always be an inspiration wherever you are....

May you be happy, peaceful, and liberated.

Jan+
Soul Healer - Bodhisattva

The John Positive Company

Houston, TX

c2010

Jan Tijmes is a Soul Healer and life-improvement coach, having trained in Sedona, AZ and across India. He currently teaches 2 to 3 classes weekly and sees up to 10 clients per week for relationship, business, career, and health related issues.

For Soul Healing Sessions:

Soul Healing Session

Intuitive Life Coaching

For John Positive Services:

http://walkabout-liberation-tour.blogspot.com/p/john-positive-services.html

How to Get Free Life-Coaching

<-<- Next Walkabout Liberation Posting <-<-

Anapana: How Cesar Milan’s Way for training dogs works for Human too!

2010-07-20T14:02:00.000-07:00

A lesson in Respiration Awareness, called “Anapanasati” (ie: ‘anapana’ means respiration, and ‘sati’ means awareness).

<-<- Previous Walkabout Liberation Posting <-<-

If you’ve ever watched The Dog Whisperer with Cesar Milan, Cesar teaches us one of the most valuable techniques for training dogs: Concentration of the Mind. This lesson is so invaluable that I want to examine its efficacy for humans.

I think we can all agree that dogs are scatter-brained. In fact, dog minds chart the animal kingdom list for being most unfocused. They aren’t as ‘calculating’ as a monkey’s mind, but as a whole they are extremely wavering.

As a comparison, human minds are a good mixture of half monkey and half dog.

Haha, let’s face it! We’re calculating, control-freaks who can’t stop thinking and who are completely scatter-brained jumping from one thought to another.

But we have the choice to choose to train our minds differently so there is more peace.

Enter Cesar Milan and his dog-training show, The Dog Whisperer. Cesar has millions of fans who are astounded at how simple he is able to control even the most ferocious dogs! Besides the fact that Cesar “knows dogs”, he also has a very pure and calm mind (energy). This calm mind allows him to be very clear with animals; transmitting a very clear message.

->>>> Read More of this Mental Concentration Blog ->>>>

Training a Dog to Focus:
Cesar Milan first trains a dog to focus by teaching a pet owner how to walk a dog. Done properly, walking a dog is like doggie meditation.

Most people allow their pets to walk ahead on the leash without any ‘supervision’. If you notice when you do this, the dog’s mind is extremely scattered. It sniffs a flower, pees on a tree, barks at a car, yanks on the leash in many directions, all within the same minute!

So to fix this imbalance, Cesar teaches a dog owner to begin by walking the dog for 45 minutes a day with a very short leash. The dog is asked to stay closely by the side of the leg of the owner. The more imbalanced the dog’s mind, the closer the dog has to be to the owner. When the dog looses focus, a quick tug on the leash brings the mind back into focus on the owner’s leg.

The dog learns that it cannot move forward until the leg of the owner moves forward. Over time, the eye of the dog trains itself to focus deeply on the leg of the owner so it knows when to move. This cuts out between 60 to 80% of unwanted mental activity over time. The rest is up to the awareness of the owner.

An Imbalanced Dog means an Imbalanced Owner
A dog learns from its owner how to act and how to behave. And 9 times out of 10, the dog has a problem because the human owner has an emotional or mental imbalance that causes the owner to forget who the leader is.

This imbalance comes in the form of not disciplining the dog, not providing the right amount of loving attention to the dog, not exercising the dog, and not showing the dog who’s boss. And these issues are always due to an imbalance in the human, such as a past traumatic event, a lack of life-improvement skills (showing low confidence, laziness, depression), and not being in tune to what animals (and humans) need around them.

If a major past event is to blame in one’s lack of leadership, Cesar will give a few pointers in how a person should begin to treat their dog. Cesar will help a person to bring out their past traumatic event, so they can heal it, move in to the present moment (the way animals live), and begin being calm and assertive with their pets.

Oftentimes I visit friend’s homes with dogs that are out of control. When I begin to teach the dogs and owners a new form of training to release the imbalance, the owners of the dogs tell me, “Oh, don’t do that, he’s fine. Leave him alone, I like him like that.”

What? Let me get this straight: You like your “broken” dog, you aren’t interested in fixing it, and you get angry at it when it ruins something in your house?

Like father, like son…. In each of these cases, the owner has a certain degree of ‘suffering’ going on in their life that can be traced to a lack of mental peace via some imbalance. The dogs become a mirror of our positive and negative qualities. Like it or not, this works the same for horses and our children.

So it may be funny that the dog chews the bottom of the couch or is overly-affectionate or can’t stop barking at new visitors to the house, but these are all signs of an imbalanced mind, which is ultimately a form of suffering. We must get clear on what we want: either an obedient pet or one that you'll be constantly reprimanding.

Long-term improvement of a human mental pattern can’t come from Cesar Milan, as he has a dog-business to run. So it must be a conscious decision in the dog owner to do some form of personal development for themselves, so they can resolve their imbalances, and take back their lives in peaceful and positive ways.

Enter Anapana: a Mind Concentration exercise for Humans.

About Anapana
Anapana, or “the awareness of respiration”, was a technique taught in northern India and Nepal 2500 years ago and is still applicable today. It was a technique taught as a precursor to the Vipassana Meditation.

In order to teach people how to stop their minds from dancing around 6 thoughts at once, people were taught how to focus their minds on a single point, so it would concentrate and quiet down within minutes. In time, the awareness muscle of the mind strengthens as the incessant-thinking muscle of the mind relaxes.

(Picture in Hindi and English at a Pagoda/ Temple in Mumbai, India)

Anapana is a technique that’s still taught today all around the world. And it’s so effective in calming and concentrating a mind that it’s taught to children around the world in classrooms via one-day Anapana Children’s Courses. In these courses, children will practice Anapana breathing for 5 to 8 hours in one day until they master this effective technique.

Excerpt from the International Meditation Center’s website by Mother Sayamagyi:

“(Purification) meditation consists of two steps: Calmness of mind (Anapana) and insight (Vipassana). The student ….is helped to develop calmness and concentration by encouraging him to focus his attention on a spot at the base of the nose. In this way he can be aware of the in-breath and the out-breath. When the mind is given only one object it gradually becomes calm and steady.

Respiration mindfulness (Anapana) has several advantages:

- The breath is natural and common to all human beings.

- The breath is available at all times to focus the attention on it.

- Mindfulness of the breath is a technique that can be practiced by members of any religion, or a person of no religion.

There is no reason why a good student in meditation should not be able to secure a concentrated mind in a few days of training. Little by little all conscious awareness of breathing stops. The student becomes mindful only of a small point of light and warmth. At this point the mind becomes one pointed and clear and unwavering.”

How to Practice Anapana: A Quiet Mind
So how does Anapana work, so we humans can learn how to still our minds? Well, instead of putting a leash on your neck and tugging it everytime your mind wanders, you’ll want to sit in a relaxed position and practice the following exercises below.

Exercise I- Beginners:
Try to do Anapana for 20 to 60 minutes a day without doing anything else. Just do anapana while sitting somewhere quietly. Do the beginner version for a few days to a few weeks until you feel very confident and mentally strong with it. See Figure below.

Sit and become aware of the breath as it goes in through the nostrils and as it goes out through the nostrils. Do not alter the breath. Just observe it. Observe how it feels passing through the nasal pathways at the entrance of the nostrils and up into the nasal pathways- and back out. Observe it. Become a witness to the breath. Do not alter your breath. If it’s hard, it’s hard. If it’s soft, it’s soft. Just observe it, and notice how it relaxes over time.

Maintain awareness on the area featured in the drawing below: Below the nostrils, entrance of the nostrils, and in the nasal passagway. Observe the feelings in this area. Don't alter your breath unless you constantly 'forget' to be aware of this area (ie: you're lost in thought). This is not a time for thinking.

Exercise II- Intermediates:
Now move on to doing 20 to 60 minutes a day of Intermediate Level Anapana. Tighten down the area of concentration, so the mind has less chance to wander. Also do this just before going to bed for 5 minutes as well as when you wake up. Do this and only this. Try to make your mind as peaceful and quiet as possible. You may have to breath a few hard breaths to get your awareness/ attention back on your nostrils. See Figure below. Maintain awareness on the area in the Triangle: The entrance to the nostrils and the mustache area. Just notice breath and sensation in this limited area.

Exercise III- Advanced:
Don’t let the word ‘advanced’ fool you. This just means you’re now getting really good at respiration awareness. You are consistently doing it daily, and you’re mind is ready for a deeper level. You could get to this level in a few days or in a few weeks or in a few months.

Now, begin doing Anapana throughout the day as you go about your day. Maintain awareness on "the area below the nostrils above the upper lip". Do it while in the middle of a conversation to keep you from getting too attached to someone’s words. Do it while driving. Do it while shopping. And do it for 20 to 60 minutes a day sitting still (in a true meditation pose) as well as before going to bed and waking up in the morning. This is the form of Anapana that Buddha taught 2500 years back for high level meditators. You don’t alter your breath, you don’t recite a mantra. Just observe the breath at the entrance of the nostrils. Just be aware of the sensations it gives at the entrance of the nostrils. Always remain aware of your breath. Notice how it changes according to your emotions. Don’t think so hard anymore either. Just relax at all times. Drop your thoughts. Notice how with more awareness on the point, your mind stays more balanced and calm- and so do you! See Figure. Over time you will begin to feel “electric” sensations, like itching, on this spot. That’s Very Good progress!

Michael Jackson's nose gives us an easy visual as to where we want to maintain our awareness. Close your eyes, sit in a meditative posture, and focus on this point for as long as you can (20 minutes or more per day is a good amount). During the day, try to be aware of this point throughout everything you do. Workouts are a great time to keep focused on our Point and our body rather than letting the mind wander. Try it out!

Exercise IV- Advanced con’t:
You’ve begun to truly understand respiration awareness at a deeper level. The body loves attention. Anytime the body is weak or in pain is because it has lost the attention of the mind. Along with universe energy, the mind is what loves and feeds this body.

For this exercise, begin to not only place your awareness under the nose on a point, but now you can place your awareness on different parts of the body’s skin surface for a few seconds at a time.

Place your awareness on a piece of your right arm. Your right shoulder blade. Your abdomen. Your inner left thigh. Your left knee. The back of your right ankle. The back of your neck. Along with awareness of the breath (Anapana), just scan your body now and again throughout the day.

Notice how wherever you place your attention, this portion of the body relaxed deeply and all tension dissolves.

This exercise is the beginning to a very deep meditation technique called Vipassana. I cannot teach you this further; you must contact a designated worldwide Vipassana meditation center to take a 10-day course to fully immerse yourself in how the meditation works. But up until now, you will have mastered Anapana, which will bring great peace and focus to your mind.

Conclusions
For links to worldwide Vipassana centers, you may email me. I will be honest and say that this technique is not for everyone. But give it a try; get your feet wet with respiration awareness and bringing focus to the mind. See if you like it. This will strengthen your ability to ‘observe’ more and react less at life’s challenges. It is like training a muscle.

(This picture was taken after 3 days of Anapana and 6 days of Vipassana meditation)

Again, training a human mind works exactly like Cesar Milan training his dogs.

There are many other techniques out there that to help calm a mind. I am providing this one technique, as its effectiveness is superior to many others "on the market", and it has stood the test of time.

To your peaceful and calm mind! It's just an 'observed' breath away.

Jan+
Houston, TX
Walkabout Liberation
The John Positive Company
Email: juanpositivo at live . com

Soul Healing Sessions with John Positive (click)

Weekly Group Life-Coaching with John Positive (click)

Houston Vipassana Group Sittings (to practice Anapana or Vipassana)

Additional Anapana Article Links:
Anapana in the MahasatipatthanaSutta. This gives a viewpoint of Anapana that’s a little more ‘large-scale’ and beginner than the advanced form in this document.
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/ariyadhamma/bl115.html
Answers from the Vipassana Research Institute
http://www.vridhamma.org/Goenkaji-Answers-Children.aspx
Wikipedia on Anapana-sati
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anapanasati
Concentration for Dogs
http://www.cesarsway.com/
Dog Sessions with Cesar Milan
http://www.sessionswithcesar.com/
How to Practice Anapana (this may have techniques different than this article)
http://www.meditationexpert.com/blog/2010/03/how-to-practice-anapana-pointers/

(>>Next Walkabout Liberation Blog Posting>>)

~Show me the Breath of God in all things~

Beautiful Isidasi and the Silversmith: how karma affects our life

2010-07-16T22:21:00.001-07:00

“The Liberation of Bhikkhuni Isidasi”

Inspired by the book, Relatives and Disciples of the Buddha.

<- <- <- Previous Walkabout Liberation Blog Article <- <- <-

2500 years ago during the time of the last Buddha there was a woman named Isidasi. She was beautiful, and she could have any man. But instead she became a bhikkhuni; a nun in Buddha’s order. Isidasi trained so diligently that she reached the highest level of liberation: Full Enlightenment, called an ‘Arahant’.

One day, a fellow nun asked Isidasi, “Why are you a nun? Why would you choose the life of an aesthetic? You could have any man, you could be rich beyond these walls. Why choose the path of liberation?”

Isidasi sat quietly to await the proper response. The she began to relate the story….

->>>> Read More about how Karma (kamma) affects our Life ->>>>

My 3 Husbands

I was an only daughter. I was the model child. I would bend over tirelessly for my family. One day, when it was time for marriage, a handsome man asked for my hand. My family readily agreed, and we got married. For him, I gave all of myself. I was extremely loyal, loving, and kind. I tended to him and served him as a King.

But within a month, the man tired of me and sent me back to my father. It crushed my family. I tried everything, but the man would not keep me. But due to my good looks, within a month, father found me another husband- a rich merchant. For him it was love at first sight! I spent every moment tending to him tirelessly like a servant to make sure he received all his desires from me. But again, within a month, the merchant sent me back to my family’s house. When father asked him what had happened, the merchant simply replied, “I don’t know. I just can’t be with her.”

I became so depressed. I wanted to kill myself. I was a disgrace to my family! I began moping around the house awaiting an opportunity to die, when one day, a mendicant (beggar) walked by our house and asked for alms (food to be placed in his bowl).

Father saw that this was the only chance to have his daughter alive, for he knew I would have harmed myself. Father offered me to the aesthetic as a wife if he would trade in his bowl and robe.

Seeing our beautiful home and riches, the aesthetic agreed to marry me. But within 2 weeks, my third husband brought me back to my father with the same excuse: “Nothing is wrong with her; I just can’t live with her.”

So just before committing suicide, a beautiful nun passed by our home begging for alms.

I watched how the beggar composed herself. She was so vibrant, so pious, so peaceful, and so satisfied, though she was living such a meager life.

I ran up to my father and begged him to let me become a bhikkhuni with her, to be brought back to Buddha’s order. Father readily agreed for fear of my death.

Father asked me only one thing, “Attain enlightenment at all costs.”

I was so advanced that I reached the final goal of Liberation within 7 days. With this, I attained the ability to see all of my past lives and to see deep within the Truth of my present situation. This may shock you, so be patient with me.

The Silversmith in Hell

I found out that eight lifetimes ago I was born as a rich and handsome silversmith for a town. I used my good looks and power to take advantage of all the ladies. Whether they were married, single, too young, or too old, I seduced them all. And I caused a lot of heart-break again and again; all without remorse. The were all my trophies.

But at my death, I was born into one of the Hell realms. The Law of Kamma works the same for one and all. I suffered torment without mercy for many years, just as I had caused suffering with no regard for pain in others.

The Animals with No Penis

In the next life, I was born into the animal realm as a monkey. But the leader of my new monkey tribe saw me as a threat, so he bit off my penis, castrating me. I had to live out my punishment for being the womanizer that I was.

After my death, I was born as a sheep, by a lame, one-eyed ewe. I lived in misery for 12 years with intestinal worms transporting children without rest. I was a beast of burden, castrated by my owner, and forced into hard labor until my later blind years.

An Indian Transgender

In my next life, I was finally born again into the human realm, however, this time as a male-female transgender. I was an outcast of society. I was the child of a slave girl, born in the gutter, and treated as a freak for most of my life.

What Goes Around Comes Around

And in the next life I was born again as a female; the object of my former desire. My father was a good-for-nothing who gave me away to a rich merchant to settle his debts.

The good news was that the fruits of my earlier kamma were now exhausted. I was freed from them and allowed to start over. But I didn't know this at the time.

I was brought in to this new household as an attractive, 16-year old slave girl. The son of this house quickly fell in love with me and took me as his second wife. But the second wife didn’t appreciate this at all.

I did everything I could to succeed in breaking up their marriage, and in the end I prevailed. I forced the first wife to leave.

But I didn’t realize that this new suffering I had caused would now have to bear fruit. I had gained new negative kamma associated with this action. Upon my death, I was born again as Isidasi, the woman you are speaking with now.

I was born beautiful, well-desired for marriage, yet I’d suffer contempt and rejection in every hand in marriage.

The Good Part is….

My good karmas before those 8 lives as well as the dedication and devotion I served my previous 3 husbands created a fertile soil for me to focus on and receive the ultimate goal of Liberation. My previous karmas forced me into being a nun, otherwise I would have killed myself. And in the process I learned the truth behind all my misery.

Become Aware of Yourself

Watch what you’re attracting. Watch how you speak. Become aware of how you act differently than others. Become aware of your patterns. Become aware of the levels of depression within you. These are always connected to some major event in a past life as well as this current life. Your consciousness will pass away, but it will always arise again in a new body in some other time.

When we are unaware of this, we roll in this misery again and again, life after life, always attracting the same challenges. You don’t need to know what the exact issue was in the past that made you who you are today, but just know that you only have this present moment to do something about it. This present moment will lead you to the future; a future of purity, clean mind, high possibilities for you.

Liberate yourself!

Soul Healing Sessions

If you would like a Soul Healing session to move beyond any troubling areas in your life, or if you would like 30-days to 60-days of free life-coaching via The Positive Path, please visit:

Soul Healing sessions with Jan Tijmes

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With peace,

Jan+

juanpositivo at live . com

The John Positive Company

-> -> -> Next Walkabout Liberation Blog Article -> -> ->

~Show me the Breath of God in all things~

Words to Live By, by Gotama Buddha

2010-07-08T20:56:00.000-07:00

Buddha's Liberation Guidance:

Thoroughly understanding the Dhamma and freed from longing through insight,
the wise one rid of all desire is calm as a pool unstirred by wind.

Any sensual bliss in the world, any heavenly bliss,
isn't worth one sixteenth-sixteenth of the bliss of the ending of craving.

In this world, good it is to serve one's mother, good it is to serve one's father,
good it is to serve the monks, and good it is to serve the holy ones.

Whose mind is like rock, steady, unmoved, dispassionate for things that spark passion, unangered by things that spark anger:
When one's mind is developed like this, from where can there come suffering & stress?

One who destroys life, utters lies, takes what is not given, goes to another man's wife,
and is addicted to intoxicating drinks --such a man digs up one's own root even in this world.

Live without covetous greed, fill your mind with benevolence.
Be mindful and one-pointed, inwardly stable and concentrated.

Let one guard oneself against irritability in speech; let one be controlled in speech.
Abandoning verbal misconduct, let one practice good conduct in speech.

Look not to the faults of others, nor to their omissions and commissions.
But rather look to your own acts, to what you have done and left undone.

All tremble at punishment. Life is dear to all. Put yourself in the place of others;
kill none nor have another killed (this also refers to beings other than humans).

Were there a mountain all made of gold,
doubled that would not be enough to satisfy a single person:
know this and live accordingly.

The past should not be followed after, and the future not desired;
what is past is dead and gone, and the future is yet to come.

Let no one deceive another or despise anyone anywhere,
or through anger or irritation wish for another to suffer.

Easy to do are things that are bad and harmful to oneself.But exceedingly difficult to do are things that are good and beneficial.

Buddha

To learn more about the personal development coaching ministry of The John Positive Comapany or for a Soul Healing session, please click one of the links in this sentence. A free weekly personal development Phone Party called, "The Positive Path" is also available.

~Show me the Breath of God in All things~

Helping people with career, emotional, depression, anxiety, relational, beauty, drugging, financial, and health challenges since 2006.

Should I buy my own or just borrow it?

2010-06-09T09:40:00.000-07:00

Couple things happened recently I want to mention.

It has to do with borrowing or buying our own things.

In the USA, we're taught to each buy our own things. It's drilled into our heads subconsciously as if it is a Law of Nature and it is absolute.

Well, in India, a land with 3 or 4 times our population where I got to enjoy a 14 month india walkabout, they all function off a borrowing system (See "Pride vs the Ego" story). Everyone owns very few things- they understand how to live simply- and they borrow what they need from the guy who owns it, then they give it back when it's done being used (sometimes you even pay a tip for its use). It's simple, it leaves money left over for saving, it reduces worry about keeping your belongings secure (many houses/ windows are open in SE Asia).

But in the US, we wonder what's wrong with everything, and one major issue is this gross consumerism and "closed individuality".

All day long, you can turn on the TV and hear commercials say, "Get Your Own Bag!" or "get a job" or "Be the first on your block to Buy this now" or "if you act in the next 20 seconds....".

What that indirectly does is reduce sharing, increase ego, increase 'acumulation energy' in your life, and increase worry/ stress for having to take care of something new.

Examples: I was at my dad's house recently. I saw a Bowflex machine in his garage still in the box. The machine is worth over $1500 I believe, and it is exactly what I need today- right now- as I've recently re-dedicated myself to a work-out regimen.

So I hinted it lightly under my breath, "Hey I saw the Bowflex you have in the garage. I just started working out a lot, and something like that could be of use for me. Even if it's for 6 months and I then give it back to you with a tip."

But a day later, when giving me a present, he stated he was doing me a dis-service by giving me that present, because it would teach me to not go out and get it on my own. He means well, but he was just relating to me with the 'training' he has received.

Explanation as it relates to the Bowflex: "No you cannot have the bowflex. I want you to know that you can succeed on your own, and that with your own success, you can buy your own Bowflex. So me not giving you my Bowflex for a few months will become the motivation you may need to get off your ass and become successful."

Hmm. Maybe that logic works for others, but since I now understand how energy functions in the USA and in its extreme opposite, India, I am no longer motivated by money or material objects as I was before. I am motivated by the energy (or service) of what I provide for others and the happiness I see on their faces. And I am de-motivated from buying a large, heavy item for $1500 that I know is sitting idle in a family-member's garage. That would be a mis-use of raw materials.

Ok, another example....

My mom is borrowing my mp3 player for a specific meditation I've lent to her for 4 months. She is very worried about using "my" mp3 player, and she's asked me a few times whether or not she should buy her own.

She doesn't realize it, but she's worried by an energy that exists in the USA that causes a person to believe that everything they use, they must be the sole owners of that item: ie: there is no borrowing allowed.

So, by her logic (unconscious training), she feels compelled to go out and spend $30 for an item that she'll only use for 4 months, then chuck into a drawer somewhere. And this is how it works for her. Any drawer in the house has unused items in them that were purchased and sometimes used only once.

In a bizarre twist, just last week, I heard my mom was stopping by the Verizon Wireless store. I told her I wanted to come along so I could pick up an earpiece for my new phone. She said, "Hold on a moment." She went to the back room, I heard her open up a drawer, and she came back with an unopened, new cell-phone earpiece that fit my exact phone. The price sticker was still on it: $29.95. Thanks for saving me 30 bucks, ma!

Do you get where I'm going here? You see how these energies cause mayhem?

We're spending too too much on unnecessary things! We are acting like self-sufficient stores, each of us owning shelves worth of handy little unnecessary things.

My mom has 2 gym memberships, and she doesn't use any of them. And when she sees DVDs for sale at Wal-Mart, some magic power makes her always buy one. And sometimes she watches it once, and other times, it sits on the cabinet unopened for months. Her logic, "Well, if I watch it more than twice, then it's paid for itself."

She's forgotten that they already get those movies on the $130/ month cable bill as well as for download online.

Leakage Coaching

So the 1st thing a career and life-coach does with a family when they work with a client is to find out all the leaks in their lives. In my mom's family's case (my mom is one family, and my dad is another family) there is leakage left and right in silly memberships, having to buy the latest and greatest, the trinkets and knickknacks, and all the upgrades that are never used. It's like the Dodge truck commercial that sells you on the largest 5.7 liter truck engine on the market, when all you need is a scooter.

The second thing a life-coach would help a peson with is to cleanse and purify a person's mind (life energy) using personal development, so they become clearer on what it is they absolutely want and need in life, and to always go after it- and nothing else! This takes time & patience.

As a note, I do provide this coaching as well as free spiritually-based tele-seminars to help a person receive peace and clarity in one's life.

But in time, the person can clearly define their natural talents, their projects, their goals, their likes and dislikes, and they naturally simplify their lives, as one things becomes abundantly clear: Peace and Health must come first in my life, and the best way to get them is by doing nothing first.

Doing nothing. Not talking, buying, or thinking. Just sit and receive healing energy from stillness. Just sit and connect to the peace all around you. Sit and calm the mind each day for 20 minutes or longer at a time.

And in time, through the years, clarity will get stronger and stronger.

And you will then realize how silly it would be to own an unused $1500 Bowflex in a box in the garage, and ask your own son to go out and buy his own, as a means of motivation.

This isn't a pop-shot to my folks. This is a simple lesson that tries to show all of us in the USA how we act without even realizing it. We have been trained to be consumers at all costs, to succeed using money and material goods as the carrot, yet it is time to realize how much is being wasted on things that are supposed to be free.

Here's to your health and future. Yes, it is ok to own anything and everything you want. But do it in a balanced way. Is your health alright? mental & emotional & physical? Are your relationships strong? These things are number 1. Then, are you able to save 10% or even 30% of your income?

So should I buy my own or just borrow it?

Ask yourself which decision will bring you more peace and health in the longrun. Stop for a moment and be sincere with yourself. Don't listen to the cravings.

with peace and prosperity,

God Bless You.

Jan+

Soul Healer - Bodhisattva

The John Positive Company

John Positive Services

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Houston, Texas Vipassana Meditation Group Sitting Schedule; U Ba Khin Tradition

2010-06-05T07:06:00.001-07:00

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Vipassana Group Sittings are now in Southwest Houston
If you're an Old Student in the southwest Houston, TX area and would like a positive place to group meditate, then contact us below. Group Sittings are for old students who are well-versed in the technique (ie: questions cannot be answered regarding the technique and your experience), having completed a minimum of one 10-day Vipassana retreat at a designated worldwide center. This Vipassana Group Sitting Room does follow the strictest codes of discipline, namely:

1) No Alcohol or drugs come on to the premise. We respect our bodies and the Laws of Nature & Morality.
2) No Killing of any animals, bugs, or people occurs on the property (thank God :) We respect all life.
3) No Stealing takes place here. We are all honest about what we own.
4) No Sexual Misconduct occurs on the property to the best of our ability, and no hanky panky occurs in the vipassana meditation room.
5) No Lying takes place on the property to the best of our ability. We strive to be honest in word, thought, and deed.

If you would like for a Vipassana Houston 1-day, 3-day, or 10-day retreat to be scheduled for your group, then please contact Vipassana New World.

These are the same precepts required by strict Vipassana centers worldwide. All meditators must be well-versed in this specific technique, having taken a minimum of one 10-day course at an approved Vipassana center worldwide.

One room in an office has been converted into a Vipassana Meditation room with fabulous energy in it to go deeply within yourself. Come share the experience a few times a week. The room has two raised cushions in the front for visiting teachers and sexes are split for male and female students. Room can accommodate 3 mean and 3 women + 2 teachers.

Group Sitting Schedule:
Contact below for updated schedule or create a new schedule. I am open to a group or individual who wants to get together at the same time. It benefits everyone.

Vipassana Meditation One-Day (1-day course) Sittings in Southwest Houston:
One-day meditations following the One-Day timeframe are also avaible on certain Saturdays throughout the month. These run from 9am to 11:30am (Anapana Meditation) with lunch from 11:30am to 12:30pm, followed by Vipassana Meditation from 12:30pm to 5pm (and 3pm to 4pm is set aside for a Discourse). At 5pm we host a 15 minute metta session. I am not hosting this to answer any questions or to guide you in any way. This space is being provided for you to use. Bring a lunch. Donations are accepted for using the room and kitchen.

Contact Information for this Vipassana Group Sitting:
Jan Tijmes
Office: 281- 4one4- 7895
Email: juanpositivo at live . com

General Map of Location in Houston (email or call for exact address):

Other Group Sitting in and around Houston, Texas:
[as a note: these contacts are only available to old students who have taken a minimum of one 10-day vipassana retreat at a designated meditation center. See old student guidelines.]

What it's like to do Vipassana Courses (blog from www.WhatItsLikeTo.com)

Houston Vipassana Group Sitting room available

How to Conduct Your Own Vipassana Self-Course (Cure Blog)

May all Beings be Happy, peaceful & liberated.
Bhavatu Sabba Mangalam.

-Jan

-> -> -> Next Walkabout Liberation Blog Article -> -> ->

Ahmedabad’s Dhamma Pitha for Liberation: 6th 10-day Vipassana Meditation

2010-03-13T04:37:00.000-08:00

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Experienced: Dec 2nd thru Dec 13th, 2009

I recently finished my sixth 10-day Vipassana silent meditation retreat in Ahmedabad, Gujarat’s Dhamma Pitha, near Dholka.

The Joke’s on Me!

A walkabout is about letting go and allowing things to unfold on their time. It’s about being grateful for every little thing that happens to you, as being grateful will bring more of these divine experiences. All we have is this present moment, and our mindset in this moment is what creates the next moment. It’s been hard for me to do this. My life’s been one of attachment since childhood, plus, I was an engineer, for God’s sake!

When I was 14 years old my friends smelled it a mile away. I was walking up towards them from a few blocks away. As soon as I approached them, I told them a joke. Afterwards, they didn’t laugh at the joke; they only said, “Were you thinking about telling us that joke the entire time you were walking towards us, weren’t you?”

How brilliant was that question!? They didn’t know what they had really asked me, but what they HAD asked was the ONE clue to my entire life!

->>>> Read the Rest of this Amazing Mind Blog ->>>>

I was so insincere at the time, filled with USA Defensive Energy, so I blurted out, “No! I just thought of that joke!”

But I hadn’t. They were right. I was holding on to that joke for the entire few blocks it took me to walk towards them. It turned in my mind over and over, playing each part of the joke as well as potential areas I could improve, as I forecasted their responses to it.

And I still do this today… but not as much…

Folks, THAT is attachment. That is attachment energy. And that is a negative energy program of the mind; a mental defilement that causes everything from cancer to headaches! When a person is liberated from the mind, there is only silence, only peace. No more holding on to thoughts. No more Ego who wants to hold on. Ego is dead or properly controlled.

About this liberation meditation course:This past 10-day Vipassana Course at Ahmedabad’s Dhamma Pitha Center helped me to experience this: ALL thoughts are forms of the root evil called “attachment”. It didn’t matter what they were, they were all attachments: whether it was a reaction, a thought about the past or future, a judgment, or something that rubbed my ego- even the ego itself became a blob of attachment energy- it was Eckart Tolle’s Pain Body in deep meditative experiential form!!!

This course was, quite possibly, one of the most challenging 10-day courses I have taken to date. However, one thing was for certain, all my negative thoughts during this course were actually quite positive! No more evil stirring within me, only the fact that I had thoughts at all.

It had been 2 or 3 months since the last course, and since that time, I had spent hours each day practicing and putting Buddha’s Noble (Saintly) 8-Fold Path into daily life. My whole house has been filled with sticky notes tacked on every wall to help me remain aware! After coming home from the course and looking inside my house, the first thought my mind had was, “What crazy person lives here?! Jesus, take down the signs!”

By the end of the course, I still hadn’t reached a place where I consistently felt sensations across my body, as I had in previous courses (a part of the meditation technique). It was just one massive release of negative energy from my system, as I tried to remain Equanimous.

I began the 10-day course by praying, “Please, angels and masters of release, help me to remove and pull out all the negative energy from me that’s holding me back from being my purest self for the good of all mankind.”

But that was a mistake.

Vipassana clearly tells you that you gain liberation by your own free will, without the help of any beings in the universe. So what happened was that a mass of well-meaning energy came in to help me release a bunch of dirty energy from my mind, when they all started piling on top of each other and clogging my whole system.

For 2.5 days I was falling asleep during each meditation and getting awoken by the volunteers. Finally I realized, “Oh crap, I prayed for help, and this Vipassana system doesn’t like prayers!”

So I asked everything that was stuck to me to remove itself and move along, that this liberation was up to me and Vipassana Energy alone.

It was at that moment that I felt a massive release of slime from my head and torso. I was freed within 1 hour!!! The meditations got stronger and stronger, until the last day. I tell you this pesky little Vipassana meditation is saving my life. I can’t live without it.

In all, it was 10-days of pure experiential wisdom. So many thoughts came up. So many brilliant ideas about how to help India. So many brilliant ideas about a few articles I’ve been writing. And so much respect for this silly little meditation. It’s the most challenging and most rewarding thing all at once. Each sitting takes so much discipline, yet an hour later, you feel as if you’ve been reborn. And that feeling stays with you for quite sometime.

There were 2 massive releases that took place; the first on Days 2 & 3, and the second on Days 6 & 7. I started to get pretty scared at the end of Day 7 thinking, “Am I crazy!? Why can’t this wall of mental energy go away? Am I doing something wrong?” “Will an ambulance come take me away?”

But it was just a massive layer of attachment energy that had arisen. By Day 8, it had subsided, and I was left with a peace that was Heavenly- a peace of Truth.

That peace has lasted a few days after taking the course. In all, I made a nice dent in the liberation of my mind.

About Dhamma Pitha of Ahmedabad
Dhamma Pitha is a quaint, beautiful, and small campus that packs quite a punch. About 40 of us were there for those 11 days total, and only a minor handful of 2 or 3 people didn’t ‘get it’. So the students during this course were of much higher vibration.

And the campus is filled with Monkeys!- my favorite… along with cats.

After the course, I shared with everyone some developments of The India Project, a new idea that’s been tugging at me for a few months. There was so much support generated in just a few minutes for everything I was describing that one man offered a house in Ahmedabad for use as an office, and a few others asked to be taught Life-Coaching and Spiritual Development, and how to integrate it into their daily lives practically.

About Gratitude
Yes, it had been too long since the last course. It was such a positive and gratifying experience. It helped me to clearly distinguish between renunciation and the householder’s life.

This past summer I spent 4 months living at Dhamma Sindhu taking courses and serving students. I really felt grateful for every finger that was lifted at my expense. I had fully renounced life, and life in turn was providing me with everything.

But in the past few months, I have been consulting for a company, which brought me some donation money, and gratitude changed. It became a different form of gratitude, some ego, some flagrant spending. A form that is more challenging to sustain sincerely or to feel as deeply; this is why Buddha stressed Renunciation.

His teachings were to achieve the ‘fastest’ pathway to Liberation from the Mind, and renouncing everything helped to speed up sincere gratitude for life, which brings liberation quicker. Within the present moment, ego does not exist. Within a profound experience of gratitude, ego and the “I” does not exist.

“So How Are You Doing?”Recently, I got to experience why it’s so counterproductive to ask someone, “How are you doing today?” Also, when someone is really happy, the worst thing you can ask them is, “How do you feel?” or “Why are you so happy?”

BECAUSE FOR THAT PERSON, THERE’S NO “I” IN THAT MOMENT! When you’re happy and in the moment, I disappears, and only inspiration remains.

If you ask someone how they feel, they have to stop, think about themselves, think about the past, block energy within themselves, bring in this Egoic “I” and what they have accomplished, and then spit out an answer.

More and more, I value silence.

Shhhh….
Just send me a nod. Nod a hello. The rest we can do in silence. I can’t wait to have kids and teach them everything in Silence.

Day 8 of any Vipassana course will help you realize this. On this day, with about 80 hours of deep meditation, and no talking, your voice begins to die away (even whispering to yourself produces a cracked high-pitched sound), and your whole being begins surviving off a vibrating “Wah-wah-wah-wah” feeling in tune with everything around it. Even when eating in the kitchen, I never need to ask for anything. I motion to it, and someone magically provides it. You begin transmitting energy (intention) very powerfully.

Words are unnecessary, as all animals have found out :)

Peace to you all.
Jan Tijmes

Walkabout Liberation
The John Positive Company

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Amazing Mount Abu and Guru Shikhar Rajasthan Walkabout

2009-12-22T17:39:00.000-08:00

Experienced: Dec 19th -> Dec 27, 2009
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The Shri Ganesh Hotel for 1 week:
It has been a few months since I’ve ventured out of Gandhinagar on walkabout. First stop, Mount Abu, Rajasthan, a beautiful English hill station that is really cold this time of year.

So how do I feel these days (it’s Dec 2009)? I’ve been asked that a lot lately.

I’m quite broken, actually, releasing a lot of old depression from within me. It’s fierce stuff that’s coming out of me. I have to work really hard to just observe it and not react. In old terms, “It fucking sucks!” In new terms, “It is what it is, so now let’s get back to positive.”

->>>> Click to Continue Reading the Adventures in Mount Abu ->>>>

Like being in Ooty, Tamil Nadu, being at Mt Abu alone really makes me feel like I’m missing another part of me- the family part with a wife. During bouts of Release (letting go of old blocked energy inside me), a ton of depression comes out of me. I don’t feel much of anything. I am neutral with a negative spin, like I’m not really here.

Abu’s a neat place. Touristy and almost just like Nandi Hills in Karnataka mixed with Ooty in Tamil Nadu. And just like Ooty, I am single in a place where people come when they are in love. And since the energy in India is "Same-Same", EVERYBODY knows about this place and sometimes - like NOW - it's packed...

I found a place to stay for 150 rupees a night, and tomorrow I’ll switch to one that’s only 80 rupes, about 2 dollars. It’s the Shri Ganesh Hotel, and they seem to gets tons of white tourists. I haven’t seen so many white people since March- about 8 months ago!!

By the way, forget what the guidebook tells ya. The Shri Ganesh Hotel has heart. The owner cares about your safety, he has super cheap rooms if you’re in a bind, and he cooks western meals- all of these things you won’t find anywhere else in Mt Abu for this price! Those negative reviews are from people who have only slept in marble-floor joints their whole lives. Ganesh had the hottest water I ever took a shower with in the last year of India.

Abu Rd College (Mohan lal Sukhadia University)
I met an amazing Indian guy, named Feroz, in Abu Road, just before boarding the bus up the hill to Mount Abu. He was on fire; similar desires and understandings of life and India. He felt stuck in life. He said he felt bound to his family, to work, to Indian mindsets, and he lived in an area surrounded with “animals for people” as he described it. He yelled out loud, “I want to be just like you and travel and inspire people!”

He can be. Anyone can be. Give up, let go, let life be your teacher. You don’t need money. And furthermore, my life ain’t perfect! I’m on walkabout for liberation for God’s sake! You always think the grass is greener on the other side- but it's perfect where you are!

So I will go back into the town at the base of this hill to speak to his Abu Rd. College in the morning about my experiences in India and the importance of making personal development the first priority of one’s life.

Tonight, I stepped into a cloth shop, and the cloth dealer definitely knew how to ease into my wallet. I wasn’t going to spend any money, but he spoke softly about life until I walked out with a few new meditation outfits. These are sweet!

After tomorrow’s talk at the local college, I’ll sniff around Mt Abu for great meditation spots and just unwind. I’ve come across some new energy since taking the last Vipassana Course, and it still hasn’t settled right. That’s creating lots of the depression release.

I still have tons of attachment energy arising and surfacing from within me, and this energy makes my life incredibly unstable. If you understand the deeper personal development world, then you know these challenges are very positive, but when you’re going through them, they SUCK! Equanimously speaking….

The next day I went back to Abu Rd College (Mohan lal Sukhadia University) and stepped right into the principle’s office. “I want to Speak to your students!” I declared.

And after some haggling, they set up their biggest hall and loaded it with 75 students and 5 faculty to hear a talk on, “How to Change the World.” It was my personal tale of the car accident in 2005 and then finding personal development. They loved it (thankfully), and I even got to give a short life-coaching session to a teacher who was extremely ‘enlightened’ by it all.

Guru shikar Mountain: the Highest Peak of Rajasthan!
It’s Christmas Eve, so I decide to take a motorcycle to the highest peak in Rajasthan, called Guru Shikhar Mountain, for some pictures. And I’ve been dying for a few nice meditations, so I figure I’ll get some along the way up the mountain.

The road up to Guru shikar was amazing. Lush farmland, forests, waterways, it was impressive. I passed by all tourist traps and temples, because it was too dang fun to speed on the windy roads with the motorcycle. I felt like a little kid playing a video game as wind raced through my hair.

I stopped at one place to sit for a few minutes. But there wasn’t any peace. I kept getting asked to be in people’s pictures, as people think I should be a Bollywood star here. Would Katrina Kaif comes with the package?

I’ll say that one really odd thing happened to me when a group of 5 tourist Indians stepped onto the rock I was sitting on.

They had all been drinking (which is never a pretty sight in India, as it accentuates how emotionally undeveloped most 20 and 30-something Indians can be), when one guy, who was more like a Persian than an Indian, grabbed my hand, poked at it, and proceeded to tell me my lack-of-sexual-stamina in bed.

It really got weird when he wouldn’t let off the subject and asked me to participate in this palm-leaf ritual that would guarantee me improvements in my sexual ability. He had me touch a part of a palm leaf with my tongue and do a little pee-pee ceremony with it that he claimed would improve my ability in bed. He wouldn’t let off, so I went along with it. You’d NEVER have that happen to you in the USA. It was so strange, yet he was so sincere about it.

Anyways, I’m always amazed at how open people are with me.

After that episode, I got back on my motorcycle and noticed my helmet had been stolen. I raced up the road to catch up to any other bikers who had passed through the area. Low and behold, I caught back up to the Penis-Lecture Gang, and one of the guys who was pretty drunk had scored it off my bike after breaking his on a rock while falling down drunk.

The peak of Guru shikhar Mountain was similar to other peaks I had experienced in Arizona and the 4 Corners Territory of the USA. Dry-ish, cool breeze. I again tried to meditate on some rocks, but I was whistled at over and over to be in some pictures. I accepted it, and jumped into a few pictures. One nice guy apologized to me, and tried to explain why I was a hot accessory for their photos.

Extreme(ly) Sedentary
It is interesting what I’ve observed. Indian people love to take pictures of themselves and with friends. They take pictures that say, “Look, look what I did. Look where I am. I am experiencing something huge here!” But in reality, it’s quite innocent. Something huge isn’t being experienced in relation to what daredevil Americans are doing, but it is big for Indians, who live sedentary lifestyles without travel.

I’ll give an example. Horses are everywhere on this trail to the top of the mountain. You pay a guy, then you get to sit on the horse. But almost no one actually rides the horse! You sit on the horse while your friend takes about 50 pictures of you with his camera-phone in different poses, making you look like a king. Riding would be way too extreme :)

I met a guy at a local university who tried to explain it. He said, “This whole country’s too slow! Americans, Europeans, Australians, everyone, is digging deep to make huge discoveries in space, in the ocean, in volcanoes. But not Indians. We sit around and are content doing nothing.” That was the exact energy described as I watched people posing on horses. That’s also why there’s a tremendous amount of pride towards India when a person makes a great discovery or wins the Nobel Prize.

I’m writing this mostly without judgment. This is just the way India is, due to the “Open & Dependent” energies that exist here. It’s an energy that doesn’t create many leaders, creativity, secrecy, or individuality. Rather, everyone basically does life together, openly, wanting to know everything about their closest people, but nothing beyond that or of the earth itself. But let me say that India has it's own energies that kick the pants off the energies in other countries. None of us are better than another. We all have our strengths... and weaknesses.

Familiar Face from out of No Where!
Crazy Coincidence!!! As I was walking back to my motorcycle, I heard a familiar voice yell, “Hey, Jan!” from a passing car. As I turned to look, my Toronto friend, Shaela, was passing by with her parents on their way to Udaipur, Rajasthan. I met her during the last Vipassana course at Dhamma Pitha a few weeks ago! India is just as small as anywhere else…

Christmas Eve in Mt Abu, Rajasthan!!!
I love walkabout. I show up, no expectations, and I receive everything! There’s a cool Hindi quote that says, “Ask, and you receive nothing. Don’t ask, and you get everything.” It’s opposite to the popular American version: “Ask and ye shall Receive.”

Tonight, I found out that a local church was having Christmas Eve service at 11:30pm at night. I thought it would be amazing to spend Christmas at a hill station church in Rajasthan. Now tell me there aren’t a few ironies going on there… India, Christianity, spirituality, Buddha; all rolled into one!

I found a church named St Savior’s Presbyterian, and walked inside the gate. A few guys were stringing lights outside. I knocked on the door of a small house on the property. The pastor welcomed me and told me about the evening’s service. Now I haven’t missed Christmas Eve service in almost all my life, so I was eager to come back in a few hours to celebrate. I was told about 30 families are members of the church, a few of whom would be there.

So I stopped by my favorite linen shop, “Baba’s Something or Other”, and picked up my 5th two-piece meditation outfit (3 from this shop, they were so amazing!). I dawned my new green outfit, and headed down to church early thinking I’d help out with a few things.

The pastor greeted me again; a 36 year old, warm-hearted guy, and his wife who brought me a few pieces of cake. Cake for Christmas is essential in India. And people don’t say Merry Christmas like in the USA, they say, “Happy Christmas”.

By 11:30pm, no one had arrived, so the pastor’s wife came out and asked us to enter the church. She’s a short woman with a melodious voice, who wears the pants at the church, even though her husband is the pastor.

Now understand how beautiful this is!:

I am at a church in Mount Abu, Rajasthan, celebrating with a pastor, his wife, and the whole church to ourselves! Just the three of us! Some would think it stupid, but we got to enjoy Jesus in a 180 yr old British church with ZERO Degree Weather alone singing English and Hindi carols.

We sang for about 20 minutes, they made some Hindi prayers, I read a few verses from Matthew in the New Testament, and we then headed out to the courtyard to light firecrackers.

Is that sweet or what!? It’s freezing outside, literally 0 degrees Celsius (32 Fahrenheit), so I ran home through the empty streets that were bustling with crowds just a few hours before.

Definitely say ‘hello’ to the Pastor the next time you’re in Abu! They are sweet people.

Hiking/ Trekking Mt. Abu, Rajasthan
The next few days were spent with Piotr, a Polish guy living for 6 months in Baroda, Gujarat and an American named, Rey, who farms half the year and travels the world half the year for the past decade.

We went hiking one day and had a great chance to see the Mt Abu hill station in its entirety. It is a beautiful place. No wonder the British stole it.

A King is Born
I also stopped back to the Christian Church to spend Christmas Day with them. I got to have a free meal, and I got to meet some amazing families. What’s funny is how the diet changes the instant you change religions. In most all Hindu households and in 100% of Buddhist houses, you eat pure vegetarian food. But once you sit with Christians and Muslims in India, you kill other beings (animals) and call it food.

It was Bill Clinton who once said during Thanksgiving, “It amazes me how each one of these turkeys has a different personality. They really are all different.”

No shit, Turkey! All beings have a right to be on this planet. We are all Life. Can we define life? Can we define 'biology' properly?

I met a wonderful Christian family with a daughter named Zilivia. We hung out a couple days, and her father who’s a photographer dressed me up as a Rajasthani King and took pictures of me at the Nakki Lake park.

The Belgian Girl
Remember from the blog where the palm reader told me I’d meet my future wife without questions by March, 2010? So naturally I’ve been looking out for her… a lot! So when I bumped into this girl 6 times in 20 minutes at the Shri Ganesh, I began wondering what the deelio was.

As it turns out, this girl named Amandine was 18 years old, and she came to India alone just to backpack and work on a farm for 4 months. “A farm?” I asked…

“Yes, I found a place called, NuTech, that is an all-organic WWOOFING farm, and I wanted to check it out.”

That’s when my jaw dropped. That farm is owned by one of my best friends in Kutch where I did Vipassana for 4 months! What a SMALL world finding someone who had just arrived to India in a small hotel at a Hill Station in the middle of no where. It was just like Shaela yelling to me, “Hey Jan!”

Vijay, who owns NuTech Organic wwoofing Farm, is an awesome Assistant Teacher at Dhamma Sindhu who is one of the only guys keeping the place in line. We both seem to be quite judgmental about the place (Dhamma Sindhu), but it's because we love it so much. tough love...

So I spent a few days with her hiking and talking about life. She had a light in her eyes that immediately told me how spiritually advanced she was. She’s still young yet, so she gets into a lot of trouble, but one day, maybe in 10 years, she’s gonna be really powerful.

As for me, the liberation that took place on this walkabout was about freeing up my confined mind. I was beginning to feel really stuck in Gandhinagar, but spending a week with foreigners helped to reignite the inspiration hidden within me.

And then, it was off to Jaipur, Rajasthan… to visit one of Shaela’s friends, named Alok, just before attending another Vipassana course at Dhamma Thali.

Click below for THAT one!

:)

Jan Positive

The Walkabout Liberation Tour
The John Positive Co., India

C2009 and 2010
''yeah, that's right.''

Free Personal Development Coaching

-> -> -> Next Walkabout Liberation Blog Article -> -> ->

What can Walkabout’s Positive Path Coaching call help me with? (3 of 3)

2009-12-01T11:34:00.000-08:00

Dear Fans of Liberation,

What can Walkabout’s Positive Path Coaching call help me with? (3 of 3)
Anything, really. It’s up to you, and this call is a fantastic place to receive the support, energy, inspiration, and guidance you may want. If you start attending at least one call per week, you would notice results and positivity in many areas of your life provided you follow the advice and guidance. The Wednesday calls are added just to carry you/ us over, for those who need the extra support.

Part 1 of 3: Click here, or see End of this article.
Part 2 of 3: Click here, or see End of this article.
Part 3 of 3: The Article you are reading now.

Some areas which the Positive Path Call can help you deal with are:

Impatience.
Greed.
Fear, Worry, Anxiety.
Attachments, Control, and Accumulation.
Anger, hatred.
Overly Judgmental and Calculating.
Loosing balance or peace of the Mind.
Mastering your Mind by becoming more Mindful and Aware.
Health concern.
Loneliness.
Protecting your self from being a negative energy sponge. (We’re only as strong as the weakest thing that causes us to judge or complain.)
Release blocked, negative energy, like a pressure release valve.
Connect with positive, peaceful people.
Strengthen your goals, vision, and follow-through.
Become more aware of your strengths and natural talents.
Become more aware of your natural weaknesses and those due to energy blockages (mental defilements).
Increase the “observation” muscle of the Mind and decrease the “reaction” muscle.
How to “Let Go!” and keep the Ego and attachment/ control energies in check.
Learn about your Individual Personality Type.

These things turning in our minds can spiral our lives out of control. Working with the positive energy of group support and proper facilitation gets us all back on track and growing forward. The techniques used by John Positive are some of the most effective and enjoyable around. Each person is treated as an individual, with their own unique ‘prescription’ for positive life.

Some Reasons people have joined Positive Path Coaching calls in the past:

“Help me with my girlfriend!”
“How do I make a lot more money?”
“Why am I so fearful about things?”
“I worry too much.”
“I really need to move up the corporate ladder or switch jobs fast.”
“Help me with my home-based business!”
“Am I depressed?”
“I’m always searching for love and self-validation outside of me.”
“My confidence level is low.”
“Can I learn how to tell the future?”
“I don’t know much about myself, where do I start?”
“My mind won’t stop chattering and talking, and a lot of it is negative!”
“I need better friends.”
“I want to help the world in a big way. Where and how do I start?”
“How do you meditate?”
“I need support to lose weight.”
“I think I’m lazy. Where do I find help?”
“Can you train to get more discipline?”
“I have this health concern. I want it to go away or to drastically improve it. Help!”
“What is God and what’s the reason for living?”

If you have questions, please email or call The John Positive Co. Those who have specific needs can contact me for individual sessions (chargeable), but the free groups calls should be the ones to be utilized first. If you're willing to do the work and receive support, then the sky is the limit.

To know if the group calls are right for you…
Click for Positive Path Coaching times and General Info!
To register for a free tele-seminar please send a mail to: juanpositivo@live.com

Click to find out background Information on John Positive’s “Positive Path Coaching” calls.
To your Positive life!
-Jan Tijmes
Personal & Business Development Solutions
The John Positive Co.
USA & India
juanpositivo at live.com

"Jan Tijmes is an ex-engineer-turned spiritual coach, who opened The John Positive Company in 2006, following a near-death roll-over accident in Colorado. He specializes in helping people, young and old, release old patterns and learn more about who they are, what they want, and how to go after it using group and one-on-one sessions. Jan currently resides in India, and offers sessions to individuals, corporations, and tele-seminar groups across the globe."

Walkabout Hosts the “Positive Path Coaching” Conference Call Series (2 of 3)

2009-12-01T10:50:00.000-08:00

“Positive Path Coaching”
********************************************************************************************
When: Call 1: Wednesday Nights at 7:30pm CST (USA)
Call 2: Saturday Night at 6:30pm CST (USA)
How: Enjoy a free spiritual and life-mentoring session to gain access to Calls
~Receive Personality Profile
~Receive Life Guidance
~Positive Path Personal Development document with your ‘prescription’,
(effective techniques for your individual growth)
~Conference Number

Where: Telephone or Internet phonewaves (see above)
Cost: Free (all Group activities at John Positive are free of charge)
To register please send a mail to: juanpositivo@live.com
********************************************************************************************

Part 1 of 3: Click here, or see End of this article.
Part 2 of 3: The Article you are reading now!
Part 3 of 3: Click here, or see End of this article.

Why are the Positive Path calls free, if they’re so effective?
My only mission in life is to get everyone on some Path; something that has direction and which can help people become happier and more awake. This solves all of life’s problems. Offering group calls is one way to do that. I enjoy mentoring because it helps both teacher and student equally. My reward comes from the happiness of others which is why I mentor for free. The smiles and the “ah-ha” moments say everything.

www.WalkaboutLiberation.org

“Solutions and Problems are on opposite ends of the spectrum.
If you’re focused on the problem, you’ll never see the Solution.
If you’re focused on the Solution, you’ll never see the problem.”

What’s the catch?
There isn’t one. Payback will be in the form of the good deeds you start giving to the world. Make no mistake, these are effective calls, and you will learn more from these than with most life-coaches across the globe. I am here to help people with their lives. I give a free half hour, one-on-one, to understand your unique life (like a life-coaching session), then you get to enjoy the growth from the calls. Those who wish to have a future one-on-one session with me- just you and me, or any Spiritual Session, that’s when you pay a donation. I need to eat and buy shoes like everybody else, and I’m confident you will receive more than what you came for when you meet with me.

For those of you who don’t know me:
My name is Jan Tijmes, but since it can be hard to pronounce, some people call me John Positive. I was an engineer-turned-life-coach and spiritual counselor that all started after a serious roll-over car accident back in 2005. Ever since then, I’ve spent each day learning more about myself, the universe, and how to help people without harming myself in the process. This has been done in the USA using personal development, spiritual development, Angel Training, and Chinese healing techniques, as well as in India using Buddha’s specific meditation techniques to control the mind.

Personally, I’ve had to release so many mental defilements and blocked energy within me (like bad attitudes, mental negativity and noise, and negative reactions), that learning how to release them over time has taught me how to help others with their own unique issues and desires.

“Where two or more are gathered in my Name, so there am I.”

In my day-to-day life, I’m hosting group and one-on-one sessions at a large corporation here in India, and I’m working with a small team here to put ideas together for a university to offer a class to help students learn what they want, learn how to get it, and all the while improving their attitudes and outlook on life. I’m also continuing with a daily meditation and spiritual development regimen, which helps me to provide services as ‘cleanly’ as possible without letting my 'stuff' get in your way.

Those who have specific needs can contact The John Positive Co. for individual sessions (chargeable), but the groups calls should be the ones to be utilized first.

To know if the group calls are right for you…

Click to find out what Positive Path Coaching calls could help with and why people have joined in the past.

Click to find out background Information on John Positive’s “Positive Path Coaching” calls.

To your health, success, and happiness, my friends on the Positive Path!

-Jan Tijmes
Personal, Spiritual, & Business Development Solutions
The John Positive Co.USA & India
juanpositivo at live.com
www.myspace.com/TerminalStudios

"Not everything that glitters is gold..."