What Women Never Tell You: The Man's Guide to Sex, Love & Beating the Competition. FINISHED!!

What I got for Christmas, from myself and Marcus, was finishing the final revision of our book: What Women Never Tell You: The Man's Guide to Sex, Love & Beating the Competition.

For most of us I'm sure quality time with loved ones and creating/progress/ growth/accomplishment is more satisfying than material stuff, and that's exactly how I feel today. Satisfied & happy... though I wouldn't have turned down a Tesla or Vitamix blender had one or both appeared this Christmas. But finishing this book we've been working on for over 5 years feels pretty damn good this Christmas!

Here's the beginning of the chapter "She Will Never Tell You What She Wants, But Will Expect You To Know." We thought it was apropos to share for Christmas and the giving season! Subscribe to receive the entire chapter for free!

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http://www.whatwomennevertellyou.blogspot.com

She Will Never Tell You What She Wants, But Will Expect You To Know (excerpt)

Most women actually think they are asking for what they want, and don’t realize they’re about as obvious as a whisper in a windstorm. They give you hints and clues with subtle indicators like winks, head nods, and leaving a window open on the computer, and figure... Well he must know. I gave him all those clues. Meanwhile, most men simply wish the women in their lives would straight-up just say exactly what they want without all the detective work.

Why is this the way it is? Well, it comes down once again to how women communicate and perceive things. You think you’re speaking the same language, but you’re not. Women use a secret language, a covert way of communicating that is full of physical, emotional and verbal subtext and innuendo. The funny thing is that for women, their subtext-laden language isn’t subtle at all. To them it is perfectly obvious, like the nose on your face. They truly think everyone talks this way. This is why women overanalyze and think there is more to what you say than what you actually said. You've heard it before, after you say something very clear and simple, your woman asks, what do you mean by that? They hear subtext and subtlety because that’s the waythey hear as well as communicate.

To you, the man, it often seems as though your woman is just rambling. To a woman, what they said was simple and direct, even when it seems they have not said anything. Remember, they are communicating even when they are not talking. The real rub is that a lot of the time what shemeans is the opposite of what she is actually saying.

For example it could go like this:

You:

Hey babe, Jenny wants us to come over for the pre-game party.

Her:

Why? You know how I hate her.

You:

What are you talking about, you talk to Jenny all the time?

Her:

I don't want to go to her barbecue.

You:

But... You... But she’s like your best friend.

Her:

But that doesn't mean I want to hang with her all the time.

You:

Oh... Okay. So you want…. us… to… not go?

Her:

(giving you a nasty look)

We can't not go, are you insane? You said we would go, and plus that would be insulting if we didn't go.

You:

So... You doooo… want… to...go? You just said you didn't though.... I'm confused.

Her:

(looking at you like you’re stupid)

Just because I said I didn't want to go doesn't mean we shouldn't go.

You

(more confused)

Ok?.... What are we doing?

Her:

(pissed off)

Did you not just listen to me! Let’s just go!

Dizzying isn't it? She is operating on a completely different set of rules...

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Inflation vs Reality

Politically the United States seems more divided than ever before; the ineffectual congress of late is just one sign of that.

I'm sure there are experts who have given much more thorough and well-researched information on that, but I thought there might be value in sharing a few anecdotes about the cost of things and how that's changed in my adulthood.

I'm fairly certain experts speculate that inflation is at or should be at 5% each year. Since I'm approximating 12-14 years, the delineated prices should be 60%-70% higher in 2014 than in 2002. Have a look and let me know what you think.

Mailing a 5 oz CD or DVD, USPS cheapest/first class mail (I did this a lot because I used to sell mail-order albums, so I remember the weight and cost).

In 2002:       $1.01-1.15

In 2014:       $2.32

Increase in price: over 100%

University of California San Diego annual tuition, in state (prices same throughout UC system, including UCLA, UCSC, UC Irvine, etc.)

In 2002:     $3834

In 2014:      $12,192

(Note: $12,000 is just for tuition. It doesn't include rent, food, books, or other living expenses.)

Increase in price: over 200%


Community College in California, per credit, was the following:

In 2000:      $11

In 2014:      $46

Increase in price: over 300%



It kind of bums me out for the young people who are about to enter college and/or (trying to) enter the workforce now or soon. Seems bleak if you're trying to educate and gainfully employ yourself... Didn't even touch on credit card and housing prices - I have a feeling their numbers are even more dire.

I've spoken with a few people from the baby boomer generation (or older), and this is hard for them to grasp. They come from a time where hard work and education did EQUAL the American dream of owning your own home, supporting and raising a family, and retiring with benefits that allow comfort and care into old age.

But within 10-15 years, my generation and those after me, are seeing our expenses double, triple and quadruple. Increasingly, it seems the deck is stacked against achieving what the American Dream used to be. What's the new American Dream?

The Trouble With Antibiotics & Industrial Farming - Frontline/PBS

Disclaimer: 

This is purely an opinion piece and in no way reflects opinions of or from the web, blogger, google, or any company, person, business, search engine or entity on the earth or on the internet,  and is merely an expression of my 1st amendment rights.

Those of you who know me know I'm really into health and fitness.

It seems I'm more extreme (the word used by some friends I've known since childhood - all of whom have severe health issues, none of which I suffer from) than the vast majority of people I come into contact with... though I'm meeting more and more who are on a similar health path.

Being an outlier in this area may seem in conflict with some of my spiritual/mental studies of non-attachment, the middle-way, buddhism and all of that stuff.

But from my perspective, it's not.

The way I approach health and fitness is multifaceted so I'll make a list of the contributing factors that reinforce my choice to eat a mostly organic, farm-based/local, gmo-free, pesticide-free, cruelty-free, low-carb, high in healthy fat, low-temp cooked or raw meat (all from grass-fed, free-range animals), high in beneficial bacteria diet.

Minimize Suffering (or Don't Contribute/Add to it with my purchases/choices)
Unfortunately, Industrial Farming, aka Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFO) inflict a lot of suffering, even torture. Hidden camera video footage, which is now illegal thanks to the big industrial farm lobby, illustrates cows who have zero room to move and have massive sores on their udders as well as sores and bruises from being beaten by their handlers. Chickens are packed so full they cannot move and they're in constant contact with the chicken shit of thousands of animals.
This extends to myself and my family. I'd prefer we minimize our suffering as well. My research shows the vast majority of degenerative diseases are preventable, including most cancers, diabetes, gastrointestinal disorders, and immune disorders/infections. Having a healthy immune system is a big factor in my choice to eat raw, grass-fed dairy (fermented & straight up), fermented vegetables, low-temp cooked meats that are fed organic/pesticide-free diets, and other foods with healthy bacteria.

Long-Term Sustainability
I'm not alone thinking the earth's balance, including the human species, is in trouble. Climate change is 99% agreed upon by environmental/climate scientists, and one of the major factors in climate change is industrial farming and the infrastructure of shipping foods long distances and the deforestation due to farming industrialized foods.

Spiritual Alignment
While many buddhists believe in reincarnation to some extent, the jury is still out for me. However, I don't see any benefit to contribute (with my pocketbook or directly) to torture of other living creatures. Full disclosure dictates that I mention the fact that I kill mosquitoes, flies, and gnats, but I do not torture them before I kill them. Also, I catch and free many spiders, grasshoppers and take non-toxic ant and cockroach prevention, avoiding the choice whether or not to kill them as they're nonexistent at home. To me, torture is cruel, inhumane, and soul-crushing; death is a natural part of life, and I do my best to minimize the torture aspect as much as possible. Make no mistake, if you're eating regular dairy, milk and cheese, from the regular old grocery store or a regular, chain or local restaurant, there's a 99% chance the animals this dairy comes from are tortured. Yes, tortured. By proxy, you are torturing animals. We are all connected. The more we deny that, the sicker we seem to get.

Non-Regular/Non-Tortured Animals: Since the above raises the obvious question, How do I avoid buying foods from tortured animals? Here is what I've found: Grow your own or visit a local farm. You will know immediately if they confine and torture their animals. If, when you arrive, there's lots of land and a few scattered animals, they're probably good. Next, you want to check how clean their facilities and receptacles are, and how often they check their dairy. Should be 1-2xs per week. But I understand, a lot of people don't have this option. The next best option is to go organic (and vegetarian if you can't get organic & free range meat). It's the only way that is accessible mostly nationwide to ensure your dairy, meat, and produce are not contributing to increased antibiotic resistance, torture, climate change and the overall detriment of health. Organic regulations in the U.S. dictate animals must have a certain amount of room to move around, and zero antibiotic or toxic pesticide use. Think about it: If even 20% of Americans stopped purchasing food from restaurants and grocery stores that contribute to the torture of animals (anything non-organic and non-local), it would create immediate change. Because we're in a capitalist system, voting with a pocketbook is more powerful than voting with a ballot. The most common argument opposing buying organic is cost. I look at it this way: I'd rather spend more on healthier food now, than spend more time, money, pain and suffering in the future because I didn't actively prevent degenerative diseases that are directly linked to lifestyle and diet.

Prevention of Illness/Infection
Frontline (link below) did a great job illustrating this situation in regard to antibiotic resistance, so I'll try to be brief here and just let you watch it for yourself. I will sum up with this: Scientists have found a greater instance of antibiotic-resistant infection (including Mersa and E Coli) in direct correlation with industrial farms in the same region which use antibiotics to increase animal weight. Additionally, scientists found the type of bacteria that was present in the animal manure (of animals given antibiotics to increase weight) to be the exact same strain of bacteria that the nearby hospital was treating in humans and had seen a 30% increase. The vast majority of degenerative diseases are prevented and regulated by the diet I describe (without nasty drug-induced side-effects). But don't take my word for it, read/research the following: Dr. Weston Price's, "Nutrition and Physical Degeneration" and Dr. David Perlmutter's "Grain Brain." (links go to separate links for the respective Doctor's websites and books on amazon).

The Low Carb (Anti-Inflammation) Element
One last thing. I mentioned above that my diet is low carb. Two factors in this choice were vanity and frugality: I wanted to slim down and my research showed that a low carb diet (done properly, NOT Atkins - Atkins may help you loose weight but it will likely help you gain a whole host of other health problems) helps people loose fat, keep muscle, and helps the weight stay off. Also, my clothes had become too small and too tight (now remedied after 10 months on this diet) and I didn't want to spend money to buy a whole new wardrobe! But low carb diets have another huge benefit: Research shows that a high-carb (which is the standard American diet, aka SAD), whether it's fruits, breads, pastas, starchy vegetables, gluten-free or otherwise, yields a higher probability of heart disease, Alzheimer's and dementia. (See Dr. David Perlmutter again and "Grain Brain." The reason? Inflammation. Carbohydrates/high glycemic foods cause a rise in insulin, which cause inflammation and over time this damages our arteries, hearts, vessels and brain vessels. Lastly, I want the option to still have children. My research also shows a low carb diet helps with hormone regulation and health, which is obviously an important factor in conception!

Here's the link for Frontline. Please watch this program. It's excellent and I'm so glad people are actually talking about this. It's personal, after all. Marcus's father died due to complications post-surgery including an antibiotic-resistant Mersa infection - an infection that they cover in this Frontline story.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/trouble-with-antibiotics/

Disclaimer: 

This is purely an opinion piece and in no way reflects opinions of or from the web, blogger, google, or any company, person, business, search engine or entity on the earth or on the internet,  and is merely an expression of my 1st amendment rights.

Fatherhood from a Punk Rock Perspective

If you haven't seen the documentary, "The Other F Word," I highly recommend you see it as soon as possible.

Here's a clip. I found it highly inspiring and it illustrated one of my favorite things really well. Transformation.

To give you a glimpse and convince you to see this movie, here's a clip and a brief synopsis from imdb: (Source: http://www.imdb.com/video/withoutabox/vi762485273?ref_=tt_pv_vi_aiv_2)

The movie is about what happens when society's ultimate anti-authoritarians, Punk Rockers, become society's ultimate authorities, Dads. It features Mark Hoppus (Blink-182), Flea (FEAR, Red Hot Chili Peppers), Greg Hetson (Bad Religion, Circle Jerks), a rare appearance by one of the original Black Flag members, Ron (Chavo) Reyes, Tim McIlrath (Rise Against), Josh Freese (NIN), Art Alexakis (Everclear), Jim Lindberg (Pennywise), Lars Frederiksen and Matt Freeman (Rancid), Tony Hawk (Pro Skater) Joe Sib (SideOneDummyRecords), Kevin Lyman (Warped Tour), Rick Thorne (BMX, Good Guys in Black), Brett Gurewitz (Epitaph Records, Bad Religion), Jack Grisham (TSOL), Fat Mike (NOFX), Joe Escalante (The Vandals), Tony Adolescent (The Adolescents), Mark Mothersbaugh (DEVO). And music by most of these bands as well as The Bouncing Souls.

Video below. Here's a link for the clip in case it won't load in blogger.

http://www.imdb.com/video/wab/vi762485273/

Enjoy!

Happiness vs Non-Attachment

Recently, I spent 3 days at a Buddhist monastery.

No, I didn’t disguise myself as a Buddhist monk and sneak in. I was actually welcome there by the residential monks to an Introductory Retreat – the first retreat if you’ve never visited before, at the beautiful Shasta Abbey near Mt. Shasta, California.

The mostly silent retreat – mostly because we were encouraged to ask questions during “Dharma Discussions” and communicate as necessary during instruction and invited to sign up for a counseling session with a residential monk – all required the use of our voices.

I have been home for three days. There are two major things coming forward for me to share with you all:

First:

I love spending time in silence. It’s a relief for me in my overly articulated, super-verbal life. (Some might even call me bossy at times!) But I really like silence! Here’s what I wrote about it during the retreat:

“I really like the silent times where I don't talk. The thoughts that will never reach my lips somehow have a clearer, crisper -  pure bell-like quality to them. I didn't realize how the prospect of speaking thoughts (or potentially writing them) adjust them - taint them somehow. As if the intensity with which I think things that might get spoken or written created an unknown tension in my brain. It's a relief."

The fabulous monk, Reverend Mugo, to whom I talked wrote about my thoughts on silence in a kind and eloquent way on her blog with my OK and preserving my privacy. Here’s a link to her blog (url below). I highly recommend you subscribe as I find her blog to be of great spiritual insight and value, not to mention pragmatic, especially for those of us not living full time at a monastery!

http://www.jademountains.net/thoughts-unspoken/

Second:

Non-attachment is the bomb!

            (Am I attached to non-attachment?!?)

But happiness is confusing. Our constitution contains the word, stating every citizen of the United States (save slaves, indentured servants, and indigenous people at the time!) has the right to pursue “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” but what exactly is happiness? Surely someone high on morphine, while at the best part of the high, feels happy, right? Some might argue that’s not really happiness, but pursuing and feeling happy can be as goal-oriented, evasive and have a chasing-the-dragon quality, I think. For example, most people would probably categorize me as a happy person; I think I’m someone who cultivates happiness on a regular basis – for me my cultivation activities include meditation, exercise, eating healthy, being myself and spending time with people who embrace me for who I am; in other words, not feeling (or believing) that I need to be other than who I am.

I’ve been having internal dialogues and researching happiness for a while now, but from my experience at the Abbey, I’m realizing that a more non-attached way of being actually leads to what most people call happiness. It may not be as manic (though true happiness really isn’t manic) or exciting, and is likely less obvious. But life’s little annoyances don’t carry much weight when practicing non-attachment. Two examples: Yesterday while in the kitchen, I accidentally spilled some water. In the past I would’ve gotten annoyed that I did this and I know the physiological symptoms of this annoyed state were heighted blood pressure and acid throughout my body (typical physiological stress responses). Yesterday, I basically shrugged, mopped up the water, and moved on. Today, I didn’t have enough toilet paper in the bathroom and realized it too late. Our extra supply is in our overflow storage (bathroom is small), which is outside and about 20 feet away from the bathroom and no one was around to fetch some for me. Being really into personal and excrement-related hygiene would be part of my excuse why I would’ve gotten annoyed in the past. Today, upon realizing I had about one-wipe worth of TP left, said “crap” aloud to no one, and once again shrugged, decided to deal with it calmly (and not beat myself up for forgetting to replenish earlier) and just did what was necessary to remedy the situation.

Non-attachment! What a revelation. And it can be so hard to do this when absorbed in the annoying moment. It’s worth noting that I’ve called myself a “recovering perfectionist,” and I think that was a factor in my annoyance about things that I judge could have been better or perfected.

Now I’m still quite attached to certain things: family, loved ones, friends, healthy food, shelter, fun, relaxation, even meditation! But, this way of being also helps me to acknowledge that losing any of the aforementioned human needs and attachments, like family, shelter and food wouldn’t be as emotionally devastating as they would be were I not practicing non-attachment.

Meditation helps. A lot. Helps me to be in a non-attached way of being. Some call it “seeing things as they are” or “seeing the truth.”

But I’m also not trying to be attached to meditation and am mindfully aware of that as well. For now, I feel it is one of the best tools for overall health and wellness… and for seeing things as they are. Truly.

And that’s the trouble with language. Often the same word means vastly different things depending on person and context.

So, how is it for you? How do you define happiness? Non-attachment? Are you cultivating anything in your life? Does it add to your daily calm contentedness? Who are you? Are you able to be you regularly?

One final thought: Shasta Abbey is one of a handful of monasteries where male and female monks live and train together at their monastery but still practice celibacy. All the monks have shaved heads and wear similar brown robes. As you can imagine, that makes it difficult to reference a monk if one doesn’t know their name. I would smile and laugh often during my 3 days at Shasta Abbey… But during meditation I was trying to stay still and silent, so I'd let the laugh just circulate instead of letting it be audible or sharing it with someone. A common reoccurring thought was that I wanted to call the female monks monkettes or monkess, or the male monks monkers. All those words struck me as funny. I haven’t asked permission yet whether any of these terms are appropriate, so to describe a monk whose name I couldn’t recall, I simply said, the gentle-lady monk or gentleman monk.

The Resistance & The Resolution

Today my email inbox received a perfectly timed blog by Stephen Pressfield, author of The Legend of Baggar Vance, The War of Art, Last of the Amazons, Gates of Fire and more. Stephen Pressfield's published books. http://www.stevenpressfield.com/books/

He wrote one of my favorite books on art, creativity, and the internal struggles we all, but especially we creative-types, face. 

The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Battles
(link above to book, available from Amazon)

I read Stephen Pressfield's blog today before my workout. I was cycling home from the gym post-workout and thoughts of his blog were loud and present in my mind. 

For context, here's an excerpt and link if you want to read more (I highly recommend you subscribe, especially if you're a writer or creative type):
http://www.stevenpressfield.com/2014/09/the-difference-between-14-and-15/

I was talking to a friend at the gym the other day. “How much strength do we all have?” he said. “Think about it: a ninety-five-pound mom can lift a Buick if her baby is underneath it, right? Then why is it so hard for that same woman to lift a 25-pound dumbbell here at the gym on a Tuesday morning?”The answer, my friend said, is that the muscles can but they don’t want to. They resist. They’re afraid of success, afraid of failure, afraid of pain, afraid of the unknown.“What we’re afraid of,” my friend said, “is going from using 14% of our potential to using 15%. For some reason, that increment is totally terrifying, even though there’s another 85% untouched beyond that.”Why is it so hard to get that 1%?We can all agree, I’m sure, that we experience a huge rush of exhilaration when we actually do it.Isn’t that what CrossFit is all about, or extreme sports, or any physical activity that pushes the body and the mind beyond their perceived limits? CrossFit, from what I’ve read, enlists camaraderie, competition, novelty (new exercises, new environments), games, challenges, etc. to inspire its members to go from 14% to 15%. Success becomes addictive. You do it once and you want to do it again.Yet the body resists. The mind resists. The world seems to have been made this way.Gravity doesn’t want us to fly. Death refuses to let us live forever. Fatigue conspires to keep us from true awakeness.The ancient Greeks would describe these forms of resistance as “the jealousy of the gods.” The immortals possess certain powers and gifts, and they don’t like it when we mere humans aspire to them as well.

I quote Stephen Pressfield here, and am so grateful for his blog today because I very recently had one of those days where I was just pissed off and steeped like a smelly old tea bag in resistance.

We recently moved to a brand new city, over 600 miles away from Los Angeles. It's beautiful. In the mountains, lots of nature and trees around, and healthy food (including TWO raw milk farms, yay!) within about 15 miles. Not much in the way of television production work, so we're budget-conscious, but still, the location and environment are amazing and I can't believe it took us so long to vacate the big city!

I've been forming my daily routine, which includes intense interval workouts, meditation, yoga, and creative work - writing, songwriting, re-writing, brainstorming, new idea generation (which is basically just engaging in life and taking notes when an idea hits me), and of course healthy eating and work or work-seeking. (I work freelance in TV/Film so I have quite a lot of freedom and will likely need to travel to work sometime in the coming months).

I'm no stranger to what most people call discipline. Whether it's food or workouts or yoga or meditation, I've been able to form daily routines that have helped me tremendously.

So WHY is it so hard sometimes to maintain and keep doing these things that I know are GOOD FOR ME!?!

Pressfield's blog reminded me that I am not alone. Most human beings experience some level of resistance in their lives. But why? It seems a hinderance, a burden, an annoyance, and especially a fucking pain in the ass for those of us trying to create something in our lives!

Hmm.

Oh, right.
The reason: Human survival

From what I've studied, our ancient bipedal ancestors -- who are virtually identical to modern man within less than 1% margin of evolutionary difference -- experienced resistance to change primarily because... (drum roll)...

CHANGE equals DEATH...

to the reptilian brain stem of our ancestors and US TOO!

Change equals death.

Of course we experience resistance.

My trouble with accepting this is around the fact that I still experience resistance, even when I know, viscerally and with irrefutable evidence, that the thing I aim to do is highly beneficial and healthy for me! Fuck! Why do I still experience resistance?

I'm not facing a saber toothed tiger, wooly mammoth, hypothermia, starvation or anything of the sort. In fact, most of the things I aim to accomplish in any given day are highly enjoyable, even my interval workout (similar to Crossfit but less prone to injury), though challenging, is often pleasant and certainly gives me an endorphin boost.

But still, RESISTANCE!!

So I carry on, doing my darndest to daily show up for myself in ways that I know help me to feel and be healthier, happier, more present, and experience more equanimity.

I also do my darndest to not listen to the reactive, resistant-based voice in my head, aka ego. That beautiful fucker can certainly be tricky and whisper so subtly that I'm often not even aware it's commanding me.

Today, I conquered, subdued or submitted resistance. Honestly, it feels like a glorious day and it's only 4pm.

For the curious, here's my list of daily physical, spiritual, and mental (including emotional) maintenance activities that I intend to do DAILY:

• 60min (or more)    physical exercise (excepting 1 day/week off for rest/recovery) 
• 15min      "             meditation
• 30min      "             creative - writing, songwriting, developing tv show ideas (60min+ ideal)
• 30min      "            home maintenance/chores

Today:
10 min Kundalini (short routine) before meditation
15 min Zen meditation
40 min interval cardio + 30 minutes interval weight-training
60+min Writing this blog & rewriting songs
30 min cleaning, doing dishes

We will see what tomorrow and the following days hold, but I'm intending to see through my own bullshit cloud on resistance-addled days and hold those days as glorious too.

Thank you, Stephen Pressfield, for reminding me of resistance, the reptilian brain and especially for reminding me we are not alone in this!

Memorial Day Hypocrisy

The neighborhood where I live is a church-going neighborhood. I'm not positive if they're catholic, protestant, fundamental or evangelical, but I can say with near certainty, that the community is largely christian.

I like it. I like where I live. Low crime. People are relatively friendly, as most christians on a normal basis are. Easy parking because the street where I live is comprised mainly of houses with big lots, so everyone has plenty of driveway and street parking - which is really saying something if you're familiar with Los Angeles and parking. No street sweeping on my street. Amazing! (Los Angelinos will testify that's one of the most annoying things about parking on Los Angeles streets.)

But this blog is not about living nor parking in Los Angeles.

This is what strikes me as odd. And let me preface this by acknowledging that hypocrisy is not new nor is it uncommon among christians. I realize I'm opening a can of worms here, so I'll minimize said worm-can by focusing on one single aspect of the hypocrisy I observed today.

I was raised methodist, in a very liberal church with parents who are minimally dogmatic and religious. Whew! I'm glad for that to be honest. Our home methodist church was the first in my hometown to publicly welcome gay people into the congregation (I believe it was in the 90s!). That's what I mean by liberal (Unitarian and Science of Mind were non-existent at the time in my hometown, fyi).

Anyway, here's what I noticed:

The McDonald's about half a mile from where I live is always packed on Sundays. Presumably (based on the attire and bible-carting of those entering and exiting) the majority of patrons are Church-goers eating breakfast before or after church.

I get the whole Sunday meal after church. I really liked our Sunday family brunch after church, in fact I liked it more than church as a child I found most sermons horribly boring. It was great family time and the food was always fantastic (both of my parents cook pretty well, another Whew! for me).

But here's the hypocrisy. You're devoutly going to church every Sunday with your family, feeding your spiritual self, your soul, your religious needs, but then to feed your physical needs, you're going to the lowest common denominator in a meager attempt to satisfy those needs. McDonalds.

I think there have been studies that dog food has more nutritional value than McDonald's food.

I just made that up.

At least I don't have a source for that so let's pretend I made it up.

But anyone who's seen Supersize Me or who has heard about how a McDonald's burger can be left out for months without any kind of decomposition or sign of being a living food (I personally know a chiropractor who did this - flies wouldn't even touch the thing!), knows that McDonalds food is some of the lowest, nutritionally, on the whole human hierarchy of food.

It just seems hypocritical to nurture and feed your spiritual self on a regular basis, but to then nurture and feed your body with some truly shitty food.

It's the same hypocrisy that is currently rampant in our government about veterans.

There's a TON of political espousing about the soldiers and their sacrifice and extreme value and honor...

Yet when they come home, we don't take care of them. It's as if the United States is telling these men and women, based on how they're treated at VA hospitals throughout the country, that we don't have time for you; we were full of shit when we told you how important and valuable you are to our country.

It makes me sad and more than that, it pisses me off.

I have friends in the military. I have a large soft spot for military personnel. Maybe it's having close person friends who are active, maybe it's because I was escorted onto the amphibian base on Coronado Island to teach Pilates to a bunch of Navy Seals (that was a trip but will expound on that in a future blog) years ago when living in San Diego. These guys were great and perfect gentleman to me, the only outsider and only female.

But the point isn't about my past adventures with military personnel or teaching Pilates. I just think the hypocrisy should stop. If you say you support the troops, and say you value and honor the veterans, then you should do it.

Give them what they signed up for - which was health care as part of the package of being in the military and giving up certain freedoms.

Do and say what you mean. Mean what you say and do. But for christ's sakes, don't pretend and speak platitudes only to contradict yourself to virtually every service member seeking medical help once they're home from war. None of the soldiers choose the war they were sent to, that was done by men in big-ass mahogany desks who have plenty of health and medical coverage and who are often trying to maximize economic benefits via war.

Maybe memorial day should also be the day when we remember not only the fallen soldiers, but also the promises we (the royal "we" as in the american government/people) have made to the soldiers who lived and now need help.


Fuck it. Let's go single-payer and give all Americans access to medical help. It's certainly working in Massachusetts (via "RomneyCare" - what a joke considering he did a 180 on health coverage after finishing his governor-ship of good old Massachusetts), Hawaii and most other industrialized countries.

To veterans. I'm so sorry you have to wait over 3 months to get an appointment. I'm sorry on behalf of the government. I wish it were different.

Jimmy Carter's: A Call to Action Women, Religion, Violence, and Power... How a Culture Treats Women

President Jimmy Carter's new book A Call to Action: Women, Religion, Violence and Power comes out today. He was on David Letterman last night talking about it. 

Please see the interview (video below & link here). It's one of the most heart-breaking and poignant interviews I've seen in a long time - not only because President Carter comes across as a kind, benevolent, intelligent, and smart man, but because he talked about the subject of his book, which to sum up from my interpretation is an honest look at the most abused, marginalized, enslaved, and murdered section of the world's population:

women

As I was making my morning protein shake today, I started crying as I was thinking about it. 

I believe we can gauge the humanity and sustainability of any culture or society by how they treat women. 

Maybe historians and anthropologists have said this, maybe I heard or read it somewhere, or maybe I just made it up. 

But it rang so true today as it popped into my head I made myself cry.

There are more people enslaved now than ever before in documented history and 80% of them are women. 

Sometimes girls and women just disappear and are kidnapped into sexual slavery, sometimes they're aborted or killed because they're girls and the parents (within the culture they're in) prefer or want a boy. Oddly enough, this creates societies, as we now see in China and India, with an inordinate ratio of boys to girls, so the problem is exacerbated as families and young men kidnap women to take as "wives" because they can't find a mate on their own because there aren't enough women.

The horrific human rights violations of millions of women and girls in the form of systematic raping during war (women are "given" as a "reward" by commanders to their soldiers to rape) and girls as young as 4 years old are subjected to torturous genital mutilation which removes the vast majority of the female sexual organs, akin to cutting off the entire top of a man's penis - in this example both men and women can still procreate (as long as they don't get infections, which are common) because the ovaries and testies are in tact - but the ability to enjoy sex is virtually gone. 

I know these things are very heavy and heart-wrenching. Hopefully my blog is usually funny or poignant or something of value to you dear readers, but I had to share this. It's just too much for me to hold without at least writing about it. As for me, I'll be reading Carter's book and learning what he suggests. The Carter foundation has already positively affected millions of lives, and he says the book contains solutions to all of these atrocities. Additionally, I'm going to get involved again with V-Day, one of the largest organizations worldwide dedicated to ending violence against women. Please, write in the comments what you think, what you'd like to do, or how you feel about all of this. Thank you.

Maori Healers are HERE in Southern California Feb 6-9

Special 4 Day Event

of

Bodywork Appointments

&

One Day Hands-On Intensive Workshop

Starting with 3 days of the world renowned, Maori bodywork appointments.

Bodywork Appointments will Include 

The Ancient Maori Healing 

Art of 

Romiromi & Mirimiri

• Intensive Deep Tissue Massage
• Emotional & Cognitive Release
• Structural Realignment
• Injury Rehabilitation
• Lymphatic Drainage
• Hormonal Stabilization
• Energy Work
• Integrative Meditation

The fourth day of this special event will culminate with a rare, intensive, one day, hands-on, Maori healing instructional workshop.

Your Maori Healing

Hands-On

Instructional Workshop Includes:

• Diagnostic body reading
• Leg Wok body release - why, where, when, how!
• Mahi pona - Joint work
• Releasing of stagnant energy through body rocking
• Energy pushing
• Use of neutrality and it's effectiveness in the work
• And much more!

Bodywork Session & Workshop reg: $400

Reserve Your Space Now!

Before Feb. 1

for the Special Early registration price of 

only $350

Workshop Only Reg: $250

Reserve Your Space Now!

Before Feb. 1

for the Special Early registration price of 

only $225

One Bodywork Session 

$150

Location: 

Thousand Oaks, CA

2014 Dates:

Bodywork February 6th, 7th & 8th

Workshop February 9th

For Reservations & Appointments Email:

katie@chiworldwide.org

Maori Healers provide a type of intuitive scanning, deep tissue bodywork and energy balancing that many declare is profound and deeply transforming.

Maori Healers became widely known through the work of master teacher Hohepa Delamere, fondly known as Papa Joe and Atarangi Muru Maori Healer. In 2000 Maori Healers went international when Papa Joe and Atarangi took their healing arts to the world. With each international journey they provided opportunities for other Maori Healers trained by Papa Joe to travel with them. Papa Joe passed over on 21 September 2006.

Knowledge of the special nature of Maori Healers has continued to spread far and wide. Maorihealers.com was established by Atarangi to enable people worldwide to keep connected with the Maori Healers in her network.

The Maoris are the best bodywork healers I've ever come across. They specialize in rehabbing injuries, fertility, pain release, ending migraines, and overall rebalancing and healing the physical, emotional and spiritual body.

Bodywork and workshop will be done and led by Atarangi, Manu, Bill and Terence.

Thank you!

Katie Strand & Sifu Marcus Lovemore

katie@chiworldwide.org