The Seduction of Spirit

April 7, 1997

As I discussed in the "Date With Destiny" entry, self-love is a vital element for happiness. There is a place for passion and high intensity in one's life, and there is also room for escape and surrender. Let the seduction commence. There is no better complement to life than implementing the teachings of Tony Robbins and Deepak Chopra into your life. Whereas Tony focuses on the ability to control your mind, Deepak teaches you how to escape from your mind and the art of surrendering. It's the best prescription for a healthy and happy life! But as I have said countless times, I am not here to dictate to you, I am simply sharing with you experiences that have changed my life and the lives of many others who are seeking more happiness in their lives. The art of surrendering was a foreign concept to me, but as I learn to love myself more every day, I realize the need for more inner peace. The more inner peace I can give myself the better chance I have to heal myself. That's a fact.

On March 24, 1997, Liz and I attended Deepak Chopra's seminar, "The Seduction of Spirit," on the island of Goa in India. You could not ask for a better setting for this type of seminar. It is a beautiful, charming island that just overflows with love. India is also Deepak's homeland, the place where he obtained his wisdom and knowledge. That wisdom and knowledge was shared with 350 open-hearted people during his week-long journey. Among the 350 people were Deepak's parents, his wife, and daughter. Needless to say, you felt loved from the moment you landed on the island and did not want to leave when the seminar concluded.

Each day of the seminar was an enlightening experience that brought more consciousness to everyone's life. My biggest challenge, or as I now say "opportunity", was meditating for close to two hours a day. A pre-requisite to the seminar is a course in primordial sound meditation in which each individual is given a mantra which is determined by his or her birthplace and time of birth. A mantra is a soft chant that offers personalized significance and is repeated whenever a thought comes to mind. If you are unfamiliar with meditation, join the club. But trust me, if it brings nothing more than relaxation to your life, then isn't it beneficial? Life is a series of continuous thoughts. Where real peace and solitude lies is in the space between those thoughts of "the gap." I have flirted with "the gap" on several occasions, but I have yet to fully appreciate it. But I'm working on it. So if you are interested in meditation, don't worry if you dose off from time to time. Just remember, a little silence in one's life can only be positive. From my own experience, I feel very refreshed and energized after meditating which has only brought more happiness and peace into my life.

The major focus of the seminar surrounded The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success which are as follows: Sunday - The Law of Pure Potentiality, Monday - The Law of Giving, Tuesday - The Law of "Karma" or Cause and Effect, Wednesday - The Law of Least Effort, Thursday - The Law of Intention and Desire, Friday - The Law of Detachment, and Saturday - The Law of "Dharma" or Purpose in Life. I could go on for days discussing each of these laws but that would be stealing Deepak's thunder and would keep him from selling more of his books! Ha! Ha! Seriously, if you are in search of some truly enlightening books, I strongly suggest you read Deepak's books. His latest entitled, "The Path to Love" is right next to me and has been a quite a journey in itself. The Path to Love is also a seven-step process that he discussed during the seminar. The ingredients for this path includes: Attraction, Infatuation, Communion, Intimacy, Surrender, Passion, and Ectasy. In my own experience, I was most fascinated by The Law of Detachment. This reaffirmed my need to be gentle with myself and surrender when necessary, which I have now found to be quite routinely. This law focuses on relinquishing an attachment to a result. By detaching from a given situation, you are unquestionably believing in yourself. You are surrendering to uncertainty and your need to control. The best example of this law that Deepak used was a mother detaching from her child. If you take the time to think about it, a mother does not expect anything from her child. That is detachment in its purest form. A simple exercise that I have now implemented into my life and thought process is as follows: If a situation arises in which I am not comfortable or at peace with myself, I simply bring awareness to this event, detach from it or put it on a cloud and send it away, and let the universe handle the details and the outcome. Bottom line, you have no control over the outcome anyway, so simply surrender. Now I am not saying don't take active steps in pursuing your dreams, but the process of pursuit will be enjoyable and the universe may manifest something even more spectacular than you originally anticipated. I know it's easier said than done, but I am making a conscious effort to really apply this strategy when necessary.

Mid-way through the seminar, I had a unique experience with a newfound healer, Steve, who hails from the United States. He approached me one morning as the group prepared for our morning meditation and asked me if we could talk during lunch. I agreed and became excited because of the look on his face. He looked at me with such intensity and energy. Anyway, he, Liz, and I went back to my room to discuss a dream he had the night before. In his dream, Bobby Barry came to him via a breath. Bobby Barry was a 16-year old boy who became disabled as a result of an automobile accident and committed suicide shortly thereafter a few years ago. In the dream, he told Steve that he felt guilty for all the pain that his disability had caused his friends and family and knew no other way to spare them the pain than by taking his own life. He knows now that it was a mistake and came to Steve to tell him that he could make peace with the world by living inside of me. Needless to say, I was overwhelmed by this story and felt a new energy inside of me. I know all too well what it is like to feel guilty about the effects that my paralysis have had on loved ones. After telling me about his dream, Steve asked if he could perform Reiki, which is an energetic, hands-on healing technique that brought intense spasms to my legs but nothing more. It was the first time that he had ever used his healing ability. He had always been afraid to acknowledge his gift from God up until this point. So I suggested he share his story with the entire seminar and remove any fears he may have surrounding his gift. With a huge smile on his face and a newfound confidence, he stood up and announced that he was a healer with a gift from God. It was a great lesson to be learned about the gifts of giving and receiving. Thank you Steve!

Some of the other highlights from the seminar included a hot oil massage. The best way to describe this experience would be to have you visualize what it would be like to be a stick of butter melting in a skillet. If that visualization does not do it for you, then just picture what it would be like to be on a wooden table, covered with hot oil, and not being able to move your legs. It took three men to hold me on the table, and here I worried about the thong they make you wear! So while I'm enjoying this unique experience in one section of the room that's enclosed by sheets, Liz is in another section receiving the same treatment. My experience was quite different than hers. Surprisingly, I felt the hot oil on my legs. It was not a normal sensation when you feel something hot, but I was able to decipher the temperature. Liz was not into the whole oil thing at all! We both had the same experience when ginger was put up our noses to clean our nostrils and sinuses! It burned like hell! On a positive note, I will be visiting The Arya Vaidya Chikitsalayam & Research Institute in Coimbatore, India, later on this month. They are concocting a special oil that I will use on my body during this trip in preparation for a treatment that I am contemplating undergoing. I would be required to spend five weeks lying in a bed in a hospital with the following restrictions: no sleep during the day time, no reading or writing, no television, avoid thinking too deeply, avoid cutting hair and nails, no shaving, no physical exertion, avoid becoming unduly tense, sad, or angry as this affects the mental equilibrium and must go to bed early at night. Now before you say this guy is crazy, let me give you some background information on Ayurvedic Medicine and the treatment. First, ayurvedic means, "science of life and knowledge of life and longevity" and has been practiced in India for the past 5,000 years. It is a comprehensive system of medicine that combines natural therapies with a highly personalized approach to the treatment of disease. An equal emphasis is placed on mind, body, and spirit, and health is maintained by the balance of the three subtle energies, known as Vata, Pitta, and Kapha. Ayurveda brings these forces into balance to promote physical, emotional, and spiritual health. The treatment consists of a series of intense oil massages each day and a procedure called Dhara. Dhara is the process in which medicated oil, milk, buttermilk, etc. are poured in a continuous stream on a patient's head, in a prescribed manner. Sounds tasty, doesn't it? Seriously, it is something that I am considering because it will move me to a much more gentle place within myself. At this very moment, I can't believe that I am even considering it, but exploration is what this journey is all about, right?

In conclusion, I must say that I have been seduced. Deepak Chopra's seminar has moved me one step closer to healing myself. This stop on my journey brought about many new experiences, wonderful new friends, a wealth of information, incredible wisdom, and of course, one truly meaningful story. After the seminar concluded on the first night, Liz and I decided to go to a nearby beach, just to clear our minds and enjoy the sounds of nature. As she walked along the beach, I sat closer to the top of the beach, thinking of my father who was a lifeguard when he was my age and who loved to be in the ocean with my brother and me when we were kids. (Pushing a wheelchair in the sand is a pain in the you know what!) As I stared out into the ocean, the moonlight reflecting off the water and into my eyes, I saw a creature appear from the ocean. It was running right at me. Since I was in such a peaceful state, I did not have time to be afraid or scared. The creature was a sweet, innocent puppy who immediately began to nuzzle my legs. I looked down into the dog's eyes and saw my father. My father loved dogs so much that my brother and I were jealous of our dogs when growing up because our father spent more time with the animals. Of course I am exaggerating. He spent equal time with the animals and us. Anyway, I truly believed that the puppy was my father telling me that he loved me and will always be with me. As tears filled my eyes, the puppy began to chew at one of the wheels on my wheelchair. Nobody wanted me out of this wheelchair more than my father.

Thanks for listening!

p.s. Here are some great books that I highly recommend for your reading pleasure: Deepak Chopra's "Path to Love," Leon Nascon's "Dyer Straight," Louise Hay's "Heal Your Body," and Neale Donald Walsch's "Conversations with God."

VISION

ITINERARY

DIARY

NEWSLETTER

SPONSORS

ARCHIVES