Potential Inner Child Healing Workshops

http://whfsolutions.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/QCWorkshop.pdf

http://www.innerchildworkshop.com/html/calendar.htm

http://joy2meu.com/InnerChild.htm

Current Goals

I discovered a great blog a few days ago that has very insightful information on self understanding and self growth. I was in a painful psychological state and his articles really helped uplift me. I would almost say to a new level of "wholeness," but who knows what life will bring!

Ari at "our best version" created a tentative business plan that I found useful. I have so many projects going on in my head, that I think writing it out will be useful. At the same time, projects change, my relationship to them changes, so we'll see where this is in a couple of months.

December 2015

Ranch Goals:

1) Investigate experimental Hemp Production on farm

2) Research popping sorghum as possible direct market food crop

3) Investigate the possibility of raising animals for range health but without the need to slaughter.

4) Research tribal games as possible use of land or income stream.

5) Develop grazing strategy for the farm section

6) Research lower cost road maintenance strategies

Property Goals:

1) Liase with mentor to better understand how to make existing assets more useful to society

Personal project goals:

Drumming:

1) Develop more competence in drum patterns

2) Learn how to get limbs to play different rhythms simultaneously

3) Play in public

Dancing:

For Salsa

1) Learn/Relearn salsa patterns with friends

2) Develop strong confidence in leading

3) Teach or facilitate public classes with friends and peers

Other Dancing:

1) Choose one or two other dance styles to practice; whether hip-hop, modern, samba, afro-cuban or other.

Restaurant/Food Truck

1) Continue to explore your dietary preference based on ethics

2) Develop dishes and record recipes

3) Investigate food-truck and/or restaurant licensing

Self-Growth

1) Learn about co-counseling and find peers to practice with

2) Continue to glean wisdom from various sources, blogs, books etc.

3) Look for other healing modalities that are effective and don't require 2+ year degrees

DJing

1) Practice DJing for latin music

2) Practice DJing for general music sets

Other

1) Investigate acro-yoga, yoga or dancing retreats to improve skills rapidly

2) Apply to Vedanta 3-year course

3) Make an aeolian harp

4) Make barb-wire lamps

A return to Blogging

I have recently become very inspired by a couple of blogs, and so I have begun to undertake writing again. I will use the space here until I can generate a better title, space and vision for future blog projects. For now, This will be an amalgamation!

Timothy Ingalls LLC open for new exploration

The Timothy Ingalls LLC reported that despite a downturn in 2010 his body is available and open for exploration.
Thim Anglais, spokesman for Timothy Ingalls LLC was quoted,

"Our past contracts have matured, and we are looking forward to new mergers, business relationships, and partnerships with various affiliated bodies in the year 2011."

When asked how the Timothy Ingalls LLC would would set itself apart in an already saturated market, Thim responded that a unique mix of personality, character and life experience set his company apart from the competition. Thim also noted increased training in running, yoga, and cycling has improved his company's physical capital. Analysts are agreeing with company statements. They recently moved stock ratings from "hold" to "buy" (NYSE:TING). Recent studies including body surface imaging found smooth skin with demure, but toned muscles as well as some hair coverage with habitual manscaping.

All parties interested in entering into short or long-term amorous contracts, please feel free to contact the Timothy Ingalls LLC spokesperson - Thim Anglais - at timothy.ingalls@gmail.com

Change is in the air

Before I left home for Christmas, I was very uncertain about my future plans in China. Beijing, as many of you know is arguably the most polluted city in the world. It is also massive, has horrible traffic, is filled with people, and designed to a scale that isn't really pedestrian friendly. So, to be honest, after I had bought my ticket, and especially while I was waiting for my connecting flight in Seattle, taking in the view of the harbor and lushly forested hills while eating fresh salmon I kept asking myself, "What the hell are you going back for?" I wasn't really sure myself. I knew the temperature difference between mild Texas and 4 season Beijing would be about 60 degrees Farenheit.

Before returning home about 7 weeks ago, the signs of winter were everywhere. The days had gotten shorter and the nights were becoming quite cold. I didn't really know what a Beijing winter would portend. More hotpots for sure. More investments in winter clothes. My strategy was to wait and see what the Beijingers would do, and they were already preparing for the four months of cold.

Shop owners and public servants hung blankets in front of doorways. Enormous piles of Napa cabbage, sometimes the size of small cars, sprang up in markets and on street corners. Farmers sold the cabbage at reduced prices to avoid frost damage and people bought them by the dozen, to stock up for winter. Small and young trees that line most city streets and parks had been wrapped in rope. The rope is supposed to help insulate the trees to survive the long winter. Oh, and the city turned on the public heating for the year. That was basically the state in which I left Beijing.

After I returned Beijing was a different city. First off, within just six weeks, roads that were under construction near my subway stop had been finished. New roads that I had no idea were planned had been laid and finished as well. Old buildings had come down and new ones were coming up. This is the norm in China; it's surprising, exciting and unsettling, but you get used to it.

The air quality improved dramatically. Strong winds blowing off the Mongolia's plains bring frequent cold fronts into Beijing. Luckily, they also seem to carry off much of the air-borne pollution. Blue skies, something I was so reluctant to leave in the U.S. finally became the norm in Beijing. Even the U.S. embassy in Beijing says so.

The produce improved in quality. This was a shock because I was expecting the winter to cut off access to many of the fall, spring and summer crops. Actually, I think the colder temperatures provided some free refrigeration for the distributors and vendors. There were very few sad, limp vegetables, or blighted piles of fruit, as was so often the case in summer.

The biggest surprise for me was the freezing of Hòu Hǎi (后海) lake. Hòu Hǎi is a city park in the center of Beijing containing 4 lakes or Hǎi within its tree-lined paths. In summer locals and tourists paddle slowly through the lake and old men (as well as drunk friends at 5 AM) brave the murky, polluted water to practice their swimming. Upon returning, I found the entire lake was frozen over and had become 1 big ice skating rink with little kids, skate

rentals, push ice scooters - everything except the hot chocolate (I may have to open a stall). This is all very obvious to those of you living in the Northern U.S., but I was raised in Texas, and the idea that a lake could freeze over and become an ice playground was a complete surprise. Within a few days of arriving I found some friends and donned a pair of ice skates.

I hope you all are savoring the nuances of the seasons as much as I am. To those of you who live somewhere without much seasonal change, I may be a bit envious of the mild weather. Then again, change is fun, change is exciting, and season changes are no different.

Stay warm.

Anecdotes and economic analysis: protecting your health in China

Hey guys, I hope you all enjoy the DRY title.
It barely has to do with what this post will be about.

Anyways, I started writing again! It looks like my last post was written somewhere in Peru or Ecuador in 2009. Well, now, I'm living in Beijing and it's 2011.

There's some more to the in-between story, but I'm here to talk about protecting your health.

This all started because of a great book I just read called Born to Run. It motivated me to get back into running and pushed me to work on changing my running style - something I've been experimenting with on and off. A large premise of the book is that we run incorrectly because of thick soled shoes, and we get injured as a result. According to the author, a lower impact stride means you land and release on the ball and mid section of your foot. Never your heel.

I had tried this in the past, but always found either the ball of my foot got sore or my calves got tired after about 3 miles. This time, with new shoes, I ran about 6 miles up to the 4th ring road and back. The next day the same and on the third day I rested. My calves were extremely tight and though I was trying to push for some longer distance, I didn't want to go too hard too soon. The next day though I could barely walk. I mean, I could, but I felt a very taught, acute soreness in my calves. In the book the Tarahumara people would often get massages from their medical men before setting out on runs. Seeing as labor in China is cheap, I decided to get a leg massage.

There are a number of options for massage parlors; many are suspect. The most inoffensive are probably the Blind Massage. Blind massage parlors in Beijing always have nurses in white button up outfits, older "blind" men with dark glasses wearing all white and an overall bare, concrete hospital-ey kind of feel. Other than that I had walked up to a large massage parlor I pass near home and inquired about rates. The 50s Chinese lady who answered me, said the rate was 80 Yuan, and higher, depending on the type of massage. As she said that I could see about four 20s age girls peering out from behind her in a line and smiling. There was a red Chinese lantern dangling above. Needless to say, they weren't selling just massages.

The only other place I had gotten a massage was at a "foot massage house". I went with my other ex-roommate Kelly (girl) and after some bargaining we got a 30 minute massage for around 4 bucks each. I had just eaten lunch nearby so I decided to go back there. I walked in, told the guy I wanted a leg massage and asked the price. It was 6 bucks, higher than last time, but I didn't feel like bargaining. I agreed and he began to take me into the back rooms of the parlor. Last time when I went with Kelly they sat us at the four bed/seats right in the front room. It had a large television and was visible from the street. I said I wanted to sit there, but the guy kept on walking to another room. He showed me to a room with full massage tables, but I said I wanted to watch TV in the front room. He then took me to another room with a small TV and two massage chair/beds. I asked again about the room in front, but he insisted and I complied. Then he asked if I wanted a male or female masseuse. I said female.

After about an 8 minute wait, a 30s handsome Chinese lady came into the room. I told her I was sore from running and that I wanted a leg massage on my calves. She immediately asked me if I wanted an hour long massage and I said I had paid for a 30 min leg massage and that was all. After about a minute of massaging she asked me if I wanted JinYou or something to that effect. 油(yóu) means oil, so i though she was asking if I wanted lotion. Last time with Kelly the masseuses washed and oiled my legs and feet a few times during the massage. I said ok, and she said,

"It costs extra"; "and it's expensive".

Well, how much is it? I asked. Lotion couldn't cost that much, right?

"How much do you have?" She replied.

I must have missed something...I thought.

I think I'll just stick with the leg massage no 油 whatever things.

After that she was pretty well resigned to a normal, meat and potatoes massage. We chatted a bit. She asked about American currency, American prices, our salaries here vs. there. I asked her where she was from. She said Runan province.

Where is that? I asked,

It's just south of Beijing, she replied

Runan? Am I missing something?

Then I realized she had an accent, RuNan meant Hunan.

I asked her if she had a family there; she said she did.

Then I asked if she had any family in Beijing: she said she didn't.

As the massage was coming to an end she tried one more tactic. This may be my imagination, but for the whole massage she had been massaging my legs by sitting on the side of my body; right then left. At the very end she sat just behind my feet and took my leg. She had to pull it into her body to get to the calf muscle and that wedged my foot right in her upper upper inner thigh. I tried to pull it back, but I didn't want to jerk or make any awkward movements. So I just tried to slowly, gingerly extricate my leg from her groin. At the same time I was trying to relax so she could work out the pain in the muscle and try not to think about where my foot was. The whole experience was mildly exciting, really uncomfortable, and overall stressful. Not really what I was looking for in a massage.

After I paid and left I wondered about the place and the experience. The parlor had 10 or so rooms and was absolutely empty. There were at least 4 workers and I had paid 6 bucks for 30 minutes of their time. Small noodle restaurants in Beijing get by with 1.50 or 2.00 a bowl, but they're generally in a very small room and have high turnover. I wondered to myself how much of that money did she make? If I paid $6 to the business, what was her cut? Then it dawned on me - probably nothing. The massage was kind of crap. My legs were loose on the skin, but I was tight as ever in the deep tissue. Then again, she's probably not there to give a great massage.

This is all conjecture but I think the business scheme works like this: the owner provides the business as a place to meet customers. He takes all the normal wages and provides a place to sleep. If the masseuse gets extra wages for favors, then she gets to take some home and the owner takes a cut. Thus, the only way she makes money is by selling sexual favors. She had said she was the only one of her family in Beijing. I didn't ask if she was working here to support them, but the answer when only one person lives in a metropolis is almost always Yes. So, her family sacrificed her, or perhaps she volunteered to go and sell her beauty, youth and body to support her family. It's just another sad, daily reality in China.

Still, I think things could be worse. She seemed pretty happy and in good health. I didn't sense any coercion, except perhaps out of economic necessity. In fact she was providing a very necessary health service. Almost every massage parlor has a 保健 bǎojiàn sign outside their door. It's a shortening for 保护健康 bǎohù jiànkāng, which literally means: "protect health". You see this sign at massage parlors and adult sex shops. I suppose what they mean is getting off is good for you, and is good for your health (current science apparently backs this up). So, in the end massage parlors, hairdressers and other service businesses serve as a smoke screen for a large "health protecting" prostitution business. You may criticize, but at least it's more transparent, and less dangerous than the illegal prostitution we have in the U.S. Though technically illegal in China, prostitution is tolerated, ignored (or patronized?) by the police excepting a few raids every so often. Although as a 25 year old, active male I'm not really into the idea of a one-off. Why should I judge? The lady supports her family, the man gets his need filled, and both are working together to protect the health of the Chinese population!

Just a Day in the Life

¨Actually, it was infected and a lady spent 5 delightful minutes squeezing creamy pus out of my infected bite-hole with the side of a pair of scissors.¨
-talking to my friend about my bug bite from the jungle-
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Today I spent about an hour inhaling and exhaling into a bottle. I squeezed the bottle with my hands and then would hold the air in with my mouth over the top and breathe through my nose. Then I´d slowly let the air out by letting some air escape from my mouth and do it again. I generally try to live up to frequent self-cultivation, I´m not really sure if inhaling and exhaling in a bottle is in anyway edifying. It did compell me to write this blogpost.
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Last night I took an overnight bus for 18 hours. There was a movie probably entitled ¨ghost rider¨ about how Nick Cage sells his soul to save his daddy and then has to work for the devil. When he goes to work Nick´s head turns into a flaming skull and his hands and motorcycle light on fire as well.

He had to fight the devil´s rebellious sons. I couldn´t leave, or turn my face away as I was stuck on a bus, so I fell asleep. Given the circumstances I feel it was the only fitting response to that kind of movie.

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Actually I didn´t sleep well b/c the fattish father of the pre-teen girl sitting next to me snored like an outboard motor. When the girl got on the bus she was crying because she didn´t want to go on vacation this weekend with her family, she wanted to stay at home in Lima with her friends. I can understand, life is hard when you´re a tween.
I must have felt some homesickness as well, because I dreamt I was at home or at some pretend land far-away home where there were friends from college, friends from home, family from home and kinda weird kids who weren´t really my friends, who I didn´t really talk to, but sort of remember from my elementary school. They were there too. Like I said, i didn´t sleep very well.
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I had ideas of surfing today. It´s too bad that I never made enough positive associations with physical activity when I was younger, ´cause now it´s hard to motivate myself to do anything physical. I´m not sure what time it is, but I think it´s too late to go surfing (I also don´t want to get sunburned). Sometimes I ask myself, if I was James Duesterberg and I was travelling for 10 months, would I stick to a work-out routine? I bet I would.
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While I was sitting on the beach today deliberating surfing a lady who from afar looked beautiful came and sat down near me. She was beatiful, but she was older, maybe 40 or so. I´m not sure how intentional her actions were,when she satdown next to me but I decided then that youth is more beautiful than facial or body structure. Carpe Diem Y´all.
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I just lost my room key. Surprise Surprise.
A guy just lent me his pocket knife to help me sharpen my pen. He´s an old guy from Switzerland with flat, short hair and a HUGE beard, like ZZ-Top. He´s been travelling for 4 years and has taken lots of cargo ships around the world.
I just found my key.
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When I was in Lima I hung out with an American who waits tables in Florida. He said he made $150 a night minimum and on weekends made around $400 a night. Assuming he worked from around 6 PM to 11 PM that´s $80 per hour for taking orders, bringing plates etc. I thought about when I´m older if I had a $400 bill at a table, how much would I tip? $40? $80? The question made me anxious.
Then I thought, why can´t it be a cultural norm to give BIG tips to teachers instead of waiters? I think it´d do more for society than helping this guy blow 3 grand in Peru (He was a nice guy though).
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Today and yesterday and the day before yesterday I ate ceviche. Unlike Mexican ceviche, Peruvian ceviche has big CHUNKS of fish and other squirmy sea creatures like squid and octopi and clams all cut up and dressed with lime juice. The idea is that the lime enzymes ¨cook¨ the fish pieces, but where I just ate the ceviche it took 15 minutes prepare. The people had to cut the fish and pour the lime over it fresh and now my stomach hurts. Actually I had to stop writing this blogpost to run to the bathroom of my hostel - I barely made it!

take care of yourselves you guys.