Working on Protocol for “New Modality”

I just completed a weekend of working with a medicine woman here at Massage School. We started chatting about what I offer… and the list started growing long (not to brag or boast – I have been learning bodywork since 2003 – simply what is).

She has taken several levels of BodyTalk – a modality where we muscle test to see what is the priority for the client. It is a comprehensive and complex modality. I have only taken the first level – BodyTalk Access which was insightful and where I learned some beneficial techniques! Plus I have been fortunate enough to receive at least several dozen BodyTalk sessions from exchanging with a friend who has taken all the Advanced Courses in it. Therefore I feel like I have some knowledge of the protocol and the muscle testing for what is a priority.

I mention all that because I am now working on a protocol for a Kirby’s Modality BodyTalk style protocol. It is pretty crazy all that I can offer – especially with the half dozen or more modalities I am learning here in Massage School!

Oh – and I told the medicine woman about my conversation with my Tibetan Lama, Khenchen Konchog Gyaltsen – a clairvoyant and exceptionally clear and lucid spiritual teacher. When my main bodywork teacher, Janet Evergreen, asked him about what she should call all that she does, he didn’t miss a beat saying, “Process Buddhism.” Now I pretty much offer most of what Janet does (having studied with her since 2005), so the medicine woman here said that I better add “Process Buddhism” to my protocol! 🙂

In case you are wondering, here is my list so far of what I offer: 5-Elements (Chinese Medicine basics), Craniosacral Therapy, Polyvagal Work, Pre- and Perinatal Therapy (and Education), Visceral Manipulation, other Process-oriented Bodywork, BodyTalk Access techniques, Zapchen Somatics, Kundalini Yoga Kriya, Chi Kung advice, Tai Chi basics, Acupressure, Swedish Massage, Hot Stones Integrated Treatment, Herbal Wrap, Shiatsu, Reflexology, Working with Essential Oils, Buddha-Dharma teachings (I am only able to share the basics but this is enough for most clients), Spiritual Astrology, Medical Astrology, Non-Violent Communication, Conflict Resolution Techniques, Process Buddhism would  fall under several other categories.

It looks like I definitely need to narrow this down! Or at least find an efficient way to muscle test and get a category pretty quickly. I might need to delete several items off my list.. time will tell!

I will keep working on this when I have time (we have 3 tests this week and we are preparing to teach Kundalini Yoga – not as a yoga teacher, just as a check mark to make certain we understand K. Yoga).

Thank you for reading!

Have a beautiful Spring day / evening,

~km

 

Working with a medicine woman: healing songs, plant medicine, stone medicine, 5-element medicine, Astrological medicine

Hello dear ones,

Just to let you know up front, if you are getting triggered / activated in any way by the amount of stuff that I talk about in these email travelogues, then you might want to pass on this one.
This weekend we did three days of training with a medicine woman from Montana. It turns out she is not an herbalist, but she still taught a bit of herbology. It was an amazing time – I learned a ton and had my eyes opened to more possibilities of what to offer in my bodywork practice.
Oh and Thursday we went to the Ashram nearby for a Vedic Fire Ceremony (Fire Puja, offering ceremony). That was pretty wild. Big fire, lots of smoke as we threw our offerings in, I was reminded of being a part of a primitive religion as a Shiva Lingam was a part of the fire pit. The Ashram is a shrine to the Universal Divine Feminine, so it was interesting – they said prayers to Hindu female deities, Buddhist female deities and Christian Mary! Pretty wild!
Day One: We discussed initiation periods in people’s lives – Saturn Return, Uranus opposition and Chiron Return (so yes, I learned / reviewed a good deal of astrology with her). We went into the woods and chose a plant to offer tobacco to and then came back and did a shamanic journey to learn about the medicine / wisdom from that plant. Amazing journey for me the first time (the second journey the next day I fell asleep). Then we went into the woods later and offered tobacco to evergreen trees and took some sprigs of greenery to make smudge sticks with (smudging with smoke to clear our energy fields and more). We said prayers and sang songs over the sprigs of evergreen as we made the sticks. Lots more was done but that is good for day one.
Day Two: This was a day of cooking. We made our own massage oil with peppermint, frankincense and lavender in it. Then we cooked a delicious lunch with simple organic ingredients – a hearty vegetable soup and roasted root veggies. We then worked with a potent brand of essential oils that you can only acquire if you do their training – it is a company that is fully in their integrity – they only let people pour and work with their oils if the employees are in their hearts (grounded and prayerful). That was amazing. This is when we went to a plant again, offered tobacco and came back and journeyed again. I went to an enormous aspen tree – but apparently I wasn’t ready to meet it in my journey as I fell asleep.
Day Three: (today) another full day – we made a salve (which can be good for reflexology) – great for the skin with lots of herbs in it! Then we made a strep throat / sore throat remedy which was crazy spicy and potent, but my sore throat went away! We also made a tea out of an herb I had never worked with before – but it has many good health qualities, especially beneficial for the lungs. Then we cooked up some onions to make an onion compress – hot onions on our chest apparently is really good for lower respiratory issues (but don’t burn yourself!). We made a compress of mullein and garlic which is really good for ear problems. And finally we also got to experience and learn about herb wraps, let me say more next.
An herb wrap is when you soak towels in herbs and hot water, essentially making a healthy tea. Then you wrap a person in these healing herbal tea hot towels, wrap them in space blankets (emergency blankets which are shiny and silver) and a wool blanket so they stay warm. Then you proceed to give them a facial or foot reflexology for the next 20 minutes as their skin soaks up the beneficial juices of the herbal wraps. Essentially they look like a human burrito as they are all wrapped in towels and layers of blankets!
This is another full week for us. We have a reflexology test tomorrow, a physiology test on Tuesday and on one of those days, we have to give a high quality Swedish massage in order to pass that test! And some people are doing their oral exams at the moment as well – it is crazy! I feel for them to be sure.
We will be teaching Kundalini Yoga coming soon, and we are completing the Yang Style Tai Chi – we just learned the full kata or full 24 steps of it. I can’t wait to put it all together on a regular basis so I can lock it into my memory!
The last two massages I gave were awesome. The people loved them. One lady said that she had worked in spas for a few years and what I gave her was better than any massage she ever gave (she was a massage therapist for a while). That is high praise indeed!
There are only 3 and a half weeks left of school. It is definitely bittersweet. I will be very sad to leave all these wonderful peers and yet I can’t wait to get out there and practice all these awesome techniques I have learned! And practice I will – if you like in central Virginia, I want you to come for a treatment!
I am somehow also seeing astrology clients on top of all the other things we are doing here. Yes, it is a lot, but I can use the money and now that I am AO – After Orals, I have more time than most people. 🙂
(In case you are wondering, I’m pretty sure the Chi Kung practice is giving me more energy and vitality to hold all these pieces together.)
Oh and working with the medicine woman, she and I talked a bit about BodyTalk – a modality that uses muscle testing to determine what someone’s priority is for treatment. I have done level One BodyTalk and received a number of these treatments. So I’m going to work on a protocol where all the (many) modalities I have learned can be potentially offered to someone. Now I just need a dynamic and potent name for all that I offer!
Thank you for reading and I’m wishing everyone well!
Big hug,
Kirby

an amazing Hot Stones treatment (created by a shaman)

I received this incredible Hot Stones massage / treatment two nights ago and it moved me, seriously, I definitely felt a strong connection to those stones! This technique was created by a shaman here in Colorado. Although there are a number of similarities to the La Stones treatment (as all Hot Stone massages would be).

The shaman’s name is Christopher Beaver. He is very reclusive and keeps his shamanic work out of the mainstream media and off-line. But when he was a child, I think the story goes something like 5-years-old, he started speaking in a strange dialect. His parents had no clue what he was saying. After taking him (their child) to many linguistic professors and speech therapists, eventually someone said what he was speaking sounded like it was Native American (which could be one of several hundred languages!).

The story continues by saying that his parents took him to dozens of tribes and councils with no luck – no one knew what language this child was speaking. Eventually (a couple years later), they took him to a Choctaw council. Christopher spoke and none of the chiefs or elders present knew what he was saying. But apparently another elder showed up the next day and listened to the child speak in his rare dialect. The elder said that what he was speaking was not today’s version of the language but that the elder recognized that Christopher was speaking a dialect of Choctaw from 300 years ago.

It was eventually determined that Christopher was the reincarnation of a well-known Choctaw medicine man from 300 years ago or more. And it was eventually discovered that he could go into trance and discover answers to people’s questions that he had no reason to know.

Therefore, early in his 20’s, Christopher started taking on students. He teaches in many varied manners and he is interested in many things – artwork, jewelry-making, philosophy, shamanism (obviously), Buddhism, etc.

One such teaching that he gave was to one of the teachers here at the Massage School I am attending. In fact, she is the main teacher of this method now – Christopher sends people to her if they want to learn this technique.

The technique involves the use of Hot Stones, Swedish Massage techniques, Essential Oils and Acupressure knowledge – working with the meridians from Chinese Medicine and the Chakras.

She gave me this treatment two nights ago. And it rocked my world – I had visions, I stayed awake the entire time, I had an amazing array of dreams that night (I somehow remembered six dreams and wrote them all down – a high number for me) and I felt so so clear that night and following day. The treatment only lasted 75 minutes or so from the time she put hands on to hands off – 90 minutes including in-take and brief chat afterward.

Oh – and I had treated a client earlier that day who has Parkinson’s and it drained me a bit to work with him for 90 minutes. Great guy – I am just very sensitive and at times I am a bit of an empath, so I took on a bit of what may not have been mine. After the Hot Stones treatment, I felt completely rejuvenated and clear!

I am SO looking forward to learning this method. A friend has said she will gift me some hot stones when I get back to Virginia in a month plus. And I am very excited to practice this technique once I get the stones! 🙂

Let me know if you live in Virginia and are interested in having me practice on you. I will charge a reduced rate for the first 10 sessions I give. After that, I will be charging at least $150 for a 90 minute treatment because we have to wash the stones after each treatment and then soak them in Epson Salts. Plus these sessions also use expensive Essential Oils and Oil Blends. But even at $200, I would pay this in a heart beat to receive this treatment again!

Thank you for reading,

~km

Water Qigong

Here in massage school, that would be the magic marvelous mystical world of Massage School.. we are getting into Water Qigong.

This is a very profound practice.

For a beginner: (me) going near a stream is relaxing, soothing, listening to the gurgling brook sounds is very peaceful. Maybe I can stay in my Dan Tien (primordial point below the navel that forms first at time of conception) from time to time as I gaze into the water.

For the intermediate practitioner: I am able to check in with my 10 foundations from time to time and really feel a connection to Mother Earth through my rooted feet. Plus the babbling brook sounds are a bonus. I do my best to focus on a pebble on the bottom of the stream where I am not disturbed by the surface eddies and other sounds.

For an advanced practitioner: I suspect this is an extremely profound practice. But I am very new to this practice and to Qigong in general. So don’t quote me!

The idea is to find within yourself a stable fluid steady grounded centered potent place internally where you can rest your awareness (ideally at all times). This is the idea behind Water Qigong. Gaze deep into the water, go under the surface, focus on a rock or pebble at the bottom of the stream. As you gaze down into the water, don’t leak out any Chi from your eyes, do not allow your meditative equipoise to be disturbed by miscellaneous sounds or sights in your periphery. Do not allow your self to be disrupted by surface eddies or the sounds of cracking ice (the streams around here are mostly thawed now with some frozen sections).

It is an awesome practice! Water has been around a LONG time. It is known as the Ancient One. If you are able to communicate with water spirits, you will probably be communicating wth ancient beings. Water was here before the rocks. The water I am gazing at may have been in Jesus or Galileo or Van Gogh or Hitler or Abe Lincoln! It is primordial compared to me. Heck, the water I am learning from may have been apart of my previous incarnation!

So we rest our mind and allow light to walk us to the creek. We step with Empress’ Seal upon Mother Earth. We root deep down, breath into our lower abdomen – feel Dan Tien and Ming Men in relationship as we breathe.

Chi Kung Tai Chi oral exams; full week at magic mystery massage school

This past week has been very full. We are learning Swedish Massage and we will start offering that to our clients on Monday from memory – there are only about 100 techniques to pack into an hour… oh and I sat in on oral exams all week meaning no breakfast or lunch break!
I am loving what I am studying though. For instance, here is some basic TCM (traditional Chinese medicine) advice which I wish I had learned in High School:
Yuan Chi – AKA pre-natal chi is non-renewable. When we run out of that, we are transitioning on to our next incarnation. The good news is that Zehn Chi – post-natal chi is renewable – we cultivate fresh Zehn Chi in many ways including eating healthy food (and the manner in which we consume it is important – saying blessings over our food increases the Chi), having a meditation practice, chanting sacred mantras, doing yoga or Chi Kung etc all can increase Zehn Chi. The kidneys determine how much Zehn Chi (renewable) and how much Yuan Chi (non-renewable) to use on any given activity. This is why we want to take care of our kidneys – in TCM kidneys are the most important organ. There is a ton more to say, but this is basically it in a nutshell – get good rest, practice self care, eat good food, breath clean air, get a reasonable amount of exercise (and you will probably live longer and happier) 🙂
I just have one more question to complete my oral exams Monday. That will be nice to get that behind me.
Oh – as a result of doing Swedish from memory, I am having to give 4 massages and receive 3 this weekend… (I know I shouldn’t complain).
We still have to learn Reflexology, although we have already started studying it and then that is all the modalities we are learning! Then it will be on to integrated massage where we combine elements with clients.
The last full day of massage school (in April), we are giving 4 treatments in 6 hours to mimic what it will be like working in a spa. It is called the Marathon Day – aptly named.
This coming weekend we have 3 full days of herbology – we will learn how to infuse herbs into our massage oil, how to make and use herb packs for pre- or post-massage bliss and more! I’m definitely looking forward to that! It does mean though that we won’t have a day off for two weeks.
We only have 26 days left of actual class but who’s counting? Pretty amazing how far we have come.
Oh yeah – I did 11 chair massages on Tuesday in a bank in just 3.5 hours! That was crazy – and my massage partner and I (she did 9 massages) did not get the message to put out a donation jar, so I only made one tip. Oh well. It was great experience – although I never want to treat so many people in such a short time again.
I have discovered a steep hill I can hike to and climb up in under an hour. I felt drawn to this hill for several weeks before finally summiting it 🙂  At the top there are hundreds of strands of prayer flags, a fire ring and a rock cairn of white-painted rocks which is a makeshift Buddhist shrine. Apparently just a hundred yards down the other side of this hill there are about a dozen retreat cabins with meditators in them year-round. No wonder I feel drawn to that location! (Longchen Jigme Samten Ling retreat center)
It is a nice hike too with an awesome view from the top – seeing for over 60 miles up and down and across the San Luis Valley – many snow capped peaks!
It is hard to believe that I will start packing my things in just 3 weeks! Then I am planning to visit Denver and Boulder for a few days – seeing a friend and his family and visiting a family friend from Hawaii days (haven’t seen her in over 20 years).
Finally, in Chi Kung we are learning a technique which myth has it, makes warriors invincible (I’m not going to do anything extreme, don’t worry). We are only practicing a part of the entire form that existed in the past. Actually it turns out I was doing this Chi Kung from videos for the past year, but now I know it a lot better and the breathing to go with it (it involves aggravatingly slow breathing, difficult to do at first)! Baduanjin Qigong
We are also learning a short form of Tai Chi which involves beautiful, graceful movements and foot work – it is slow motion martial arts. I LOVE IT! 24 Form Tai Chi Yang Style
Oh and I swear this is the last thing… we are about to start learning Water Chi Kung – having finished Tree Chi Kung weeks ago and just wrapped up Solar Chi Kung this past week. I’m excited about that as well! (If you only knew all that we were learning… this school really is an Alchemical learning environment)
Thanks for reading!
May all sentient beings known and unknown have all their needs met!
~km

1 Hour Coaching Session

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some budding posts coming soon

Hello dear readers!

I have been busy with Oral Exams for the past few days – as in this crazy intense massage school is made even more rigorous because during orals we don’t get a breakfast or lunch break. For instance, this morning, I was making salmon salad as I discussed the benefits of treating the chi and blood in the Triple Warmer meridian! I had to be present as well for the two people who came before me, meaning I only showered twice this week! (Because in the evening I am busily working on outlines and refining my wording for each question!)

So, one post I want to discuss has to do with the benefits of knowing just the basics of Traditional Chinese Medicine. Seriously, it has made some changes in me – just having this knowledge! Not to mention all the bodywork, the Chi Kung, Kundalini Yoga and Tai Chi we are doing… It has to do with the benefits of taking care of the kidneys (and more).

The second post is also tied into my oral exam material (we are learning awesome stuff here – see my previous posts for a lot more on that). I want to write about how my Enneagram analysis (of my personality type) is correlated with my personal astrology interpretation – if there is time.

I am starting to get more astrology clients which is great. I can easily do Skype and FaceTime sessions from here – so if you are interested, let me know! 434. 465. 0603 or email me at mkirbymoore [at] gmail

Thanks for reading! More to follow soon (should be within a week)!

~KM

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$150.00

Eve of 39th birthday, some progress, lots more growth ahead

As I sit here, my Solar Return is occurring, I’m turning 39 years old – I’m almost 40!! Good lord I’m getting on up there!

If you have not been keeping up with my posts or with Facebook, I have been in an intensive massage school program for the past 7 weeks now. It is magical, full, rich, and at times overwhelming (like right about now). Also, I have been brought face to face with my inadequacies, in a good yet uncomfortable way. Little messes I have made have come home to me days or a couple weeks later and I have to clean them up. I have heard that is the nature of Crestone Colorado – it is a very spiritual place, lots of potential growth to happen. And we either hide from it using substances or medication or food, or we set the intention to face it head on (apparently I have done this). No matter how uncomfortable it is at times.

Massage School will lead to good things though! I am very excited to share all that I am learning with clients and friends and even family! The acupressure is pretty easy to do and it is practically a spiritual practice to conduct it – I literally sit in my Chi Kung foundations the entire time I am giving an acupressure session. I am excited to open and sustain a professional bodywork practice – to have the credentials to put myself out there, to continue growing and learning one or two modalities on top of what I already know. And now that I have a significant Chi Kung and Tai Chi foundation under my belt, and I aspire to continue practicing at least 5 – 6 days a week, I feel like I will have the energy and motivation to maintain a thriving bodywork practice for months and years at a time. Of course I will take breaks for vacation or trainings!

Teaching – I foolishly or boldly felt that I had what it takes to teach bodywork starting this past year. Now I’m not so sure. Some days I have solid boundaries, other days they are a little flaky. I canceled a teaching gig I had down in the Tidewater area – it feels like I need to focus on one or two things at a time. Time to stop spreading myself so thin and actually take on pragmatic and realistic projects – and let everything else go! And say no to everything else 🙂

So I’m not sure if / when I will teach bodywork. The I Ching (one of my divination tools) says that I need to get on out there and share what I have learned. I do feel like I need to be teaching Spiritual Astrology. It was actually the I Ching that confirmed it was a good idea to cancel the upcoming workshop in Portsmouth. So I don’t know what is going on in this regard. I do know that I’m not going to share any Chi Kung until I have done a consistent, persistent practice for at least a year.

So I think this is what my next year looks like (my 40th year): focusing a lot of time and energy into getting my bodywork practice back up and thriving, taking an awesome workshop on Embryology in July and doing a restorative and potent 10-day retreat in December. I have big plans for 2019, but I will keep those to myself until they actually become tangible.

Spiritual Practice – when I actually practice on a regular basis, I feel like I am extremely blessed and I might actually have a blessing to share with others. But that has not been the case much – I am really good at practicing for a few days here, a few spurts there, but maintaining a consistent morning practice for more than a month – very rare indeed! I am the definition of ADHD Dharma practitioner – in the course of a given month, I will have done about ten practices, some multiple times (I admit rather sheepishly). I tend to practice a lot – considering I am not very good at the whole relationship thing.

Here in Crestone, at Massage School, where I have very limited time, I am loving the amount of practice I am doing. Some mornings I will wake up an hour before my alarm and do mantras for a while. Some days I even feel up to doing prostrations, although there is limited private space – so I do half prostrations in my little bedroom! =^D

On the weekends here, I visit a beautiful Dharma center and then later I trek up to a large stupa that is up a 4-wheel-drive road that I dare not bring my little car up again! It is fun to hike it though – I meet neat people and have incredible views of the San Luis Valley.

Speaking of relationships… I feel that I am finally ready to put in the work to have a right livelihood where I can take a few days off to go enjoy myself (with a healthy romantic partner). Up to this point, I was really good at talking the talk, but not so good at walking the walk. But I really want to put in 40 hours a week building client-base, marketing myself, giving treatments and getting compensated for good work. I do have high standards in a potential partner, so I’m not rushing into anything. But I would like to meet her soon… we shall see – maybe it will be best to focus the next few months on getting established.

I’m excited about what’s ahead. I have big dreams and I am doing better about being realistic. Some days I feel like I don’t have a clue as to what my destiny is (if there is such a thing – that could be summed up in one or two sentences?!) and other days I feel like I am walking my path with clarity and radiance.

May we all discover balance and equanimity and stable contentment!

Thanks for reading my rambling words,

~km

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last major hurdle in massage school

Here in Massage School in Creston Colorado, we have to take 3 sets of oral exams. The main teacher asks us questions and pries into our knowledge to see how well we understand the topics he has been covering for the past 6 weeks.

We are now on the last set of orals. And it is pretty crazy – we have to know about 15 pages worth of material covering everything from What is Chi Kung (foundations, principles, etc), Tell me ALL about the Yin and Yang Meridians and the Strange Flows, What is the TCM view on suffering and pain?, Go In Depth about your Enneagram numbers gifts integration fears etc, and much much more. We have to be able to elucidate on 10 separate categories – all at least a page long(!).

So if you don’t hear from me for several days.. its because I am reviewing and hopefully cramming this info into my mind! It looks like I will start my test Wednesday afternoon or Thursday.

I am learning a ton, packing an awful lot into 12 weeks here. Oh and tomorrow we go into the nearest city and we will be treating 12 people each in the course of 4 hours! Then we have a physiology test and then we treat our normal practicum people… If it sounds exhausting, it almost is. But I think the Chi Kung we do daily helps to keep our chi levels high and radiant.

Until soon,

~km

Mantra as a rudder in vacillating times

In case you are not aware, I am presently in an intensive program for massage in Crestone Colorado. Most weekdays, we are in training or studying 12 hours / day. And for me, the most intense part of it is being around the other students 8 – 10 hours / day – the studying is easy compared to the constant establishing and re-establishing boundaries and centering.

My birthday is also coming up this week. So… I have been gifted some ice cream and my mother sent a delicious care package with cookies and treats in it. Which meant that on Friday evening, after a full week of school, I ate a pint of coconut (dairy-free) ice cream. So needless to say, when I woke up yesterday morning, I was a grouch. I had resistance to going to the Vajra Vidya Dharma center where they do a nice hour-long practice everyday – which includes opening prayers, brief Manjushri practice, long life prayers for the Lamas, a 20-30 minute meditation session and a brief Mahakala puja.

Up to this point, I have gone at least one day / week to this delightful little reprieve from massage school. And it is a gorgeous Dharma center with a huge Buddha Shakyamuni statue and an amazing shrine room – 21 Tara statues, 1000 little Buddha statues and dozens of ornate thangkas (scroll paintings).

I somehow dragged myself away from the massage school house and got over there. The first half hour of sitting and doing the practices were tough – I was resistant, grumpy, gritty, etc. But somewhere during the meditation, things lightened up.

Then after that practice, I hiked up to the large stupa, about a 1.5 mile hike each way. Every weekend I try to get up there once. It is a pleasant hike, with an amazing view of the valley vista – the San Luis valley with the snow-capped mountains about 40-50 miles away. And I usually meet some interesting people on the trek as well. Oh and the 30+ minutes or so of walking affords me time to do more mantras.

This time I sat at the stupa and meditated for another 20 minutes. This was very pleasant. I had to zip up my jacket in spite of the 50 degree temps – the wind was really whipping around the stupa. Supposedly, these breezes carry the blessings of the stupa (relics, medicine, precious substances are inside of it) all along the mountains and the valley (and to anyone nearby the stupa as well!). This was very peaceful.

I did some brief Chi Kung and then departed, walking back to my car. I knocked out another 600+ mantras on the journey.

Arriving back at the Dojo house (where I stay with another student), I promptly sat down and ate half a dozen cookies with almond milk. It was delicious! And it jacked me up on sugar and gluten… and then I started watching soccer highlights from English Football.

In other words, my internal pendulum swung briefly toward light and liberation and then upon returning to my old habits, it swung toward attachment and grasping!

I got some good studying done yesterday in spite of the internal chemical soup playing bongo drums on my cells and brain. I felt the need to do some prostrations in order to focus my mind – so that helped. I kept getting pulled back into sports though – the University of Virginia is my basketball team (college) and I listened to them win the ACC championship last night as well.

Oh before that though, I felt the need to do more mantras and get some exercise. So I went for a short walk which turned into a beautiful hike – 2 hours. I discovered a rock cairn shrine on top of a large hill that was surrounded by dozens of prayer flag lines (Tibetan Buddhist prayer flags). There was a fire pit as well – although considering how dry it is around here, that seemed a little risky. I kept going in that direction and I discovered some retreat cabins in the distance with a sign saying that retreats are in progress and “Do Not Disturb.” No wonder I felt a pull toward that hill!

Having done mantras throughout that 2 hour hike, I returned to the massage school clear and sharp – meaning when other students mentioned little nagging issues (which were none of my business), I just stayed silent, focusing on my internal process. I loved how crisp my boundaries were. I was focused and I kept the students I was working with on track and on time – stating my intention to begin with and attempting to stick with that.

I don’t quite have the 3+ hours of time to do mantra like yesterday, especially not on the weekdays. But I loved how my mind was able to recover from a sugar and gluten hang over so rapidly (I don’t normally eat much sugar or gluten, in case you can’t tell). So today, more Vajrasattva practice and mantra, along with studying for the last oral exams coming up later this week.

Yay for quality practice which yields results! And for a body / mind / heart that is able to change for the better so rapidly (now if I can just rest in equanimity free from attachment and aversion..)!

Thank you for reading and may all beings lean into support and clarity!

~km

Halfway done with Massage School, know a lot of Oriental philosophy!

If this Massage School were an acupuncture school, I suspect we would complete about 7 months of their program (in 3 months!). It is amazing what we are learning and covering here. In just 6 weeks, we have learned basic theory around TCM, 5-Element traditional medicine, Chi Kung, Tai Chi, Kundalini Yoga, Acupressure, Shiatsu (floor and table), Chi Kung massage and now we are getting into chair Shiatsu (massage) and passive stretching Shiatsu! Soon we will start learning Swedish massage and then in about 2 weeks we will learn Reflexology. I think that is it for modalities – we will basically be doing integrated massage for the last three weeks of school.

Plus I think we will end up giving over 50 treatments to “clients” throughout our 12 weeks here and not to mention our practicing on each other (fellow students) every day. In other words, we are giving high quality treatments to clients after just 5 weeks of practicing!

Oh and don’t get me started on how much Physiology we are flying through. We cover a major section every 10 days or so – we have gone through basic Biology, many aspects of the Nervous System (CNS, PNS, ANS, etc) and now we are studying the Endocrine system and hormones. I have taken A & P one and two for nursing, plus I took several Bio-Psych (neuroscience) classes at UVa from 2007 – 2009. Even with this background, I have to review extensively for these crazy tests! Whoa!

Anyway, by the time we finish here on April 18th, we will be solid practitioners!

If anyone wants to make a sizable donation ($65 or more) to my training / blogging efforts, please let me know. If you live in Virginia, I will give you an Acupressure treatment in exchange for it when I return. If you live between Colorado and Virginia, let’s talk (I will be driving through in late April). And if you live further away, we can do Spiritual Astrology.

Thank you for reading and for all your support!

~km

Donate to Kirby’s blogging efforts

For every $25 you donate, Kirby will write a blog post (article) on the topic of your choosing, within his areas of knowledge. Thank you!

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