This Weekend ~ Bhaktifest, Global Healing Group, and Ecstatic Breathwork at The Hub

WOW!!!  What a Summer!  I hope you’re having as much fun and expansion as I am!

It’s been a whirlwind of healing, depth, fun, and laughter these last couple of weeks....two workshops and sessions in NYC, followed by a personal retreat in the lush vibrant green Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania, then another in the captivating ecstasy of the red rocks of Sedona with my friend and mentor David Elliott.

I’m here in Los Angeles just long enough to do some laundry, see a few clients for healing sessions, and pack up for Joshua Tree.

We’ll be out in the High Desert this weekend for Bhaktifest ( http://www.bhaktifest.com/ ).  David Elliott will be leading a workshop on Friday night from 5:30-6:45pm in the Sanctuary, and I’ll be leading a workshop on Saturday morning from 11am-12:30pm in the Meditation Hall.  Come on out and join us!!!

Then THIS SUNDAY, there’ll be 2 events back here in LA.  Sunday morning, I’ll be hosting the next Global Healing Group with David Elliott via online global broadcast out of my home in West Hollywood from 10-11:30am.

Then Sunday night from 5:30-7pm I’ll be filling in at The Hub in West LA leading ECSTATIC BREATHWORK.  The focus is THE PEACE THAT PASSES ALL UNDERSTANDING.

Scroll Down for details for Sunday morning and Sunday evening:

 DISCIPLINE: DEEPENING THE CONNECTION TO SELF-LOVE

”The September Global Healing Group is coming up fast!  The focus this month is on discipline and how to use it to deepen your faith and commitment to self-love.  This GHG will be a great opportunity to take a look at your spiritual practice and see if there is more room to love, laugh and play while staying committed to your spirit.” ~David

When:   Sunday, September 12th, 2010
Time:       10:00am-11:30am
Exchange:   $35
Where:  1226 Havenhurst Dr. #9
                (Havenhurst is 1 block West of Crescent Heights between Santa Monica Blvd and Fountain Ave)

Parking:    It’s best to park at a meter on Santa Monica Blvd or in the West Hollywood City Lot just South of Santa Monica Blvd behind Out Of The Closet between Havenhurst and La Jolla.  The City Lot is $1 per hour in quarters.  Other meters in the area are free after 6pm.

RSVP:      Due to size of the space, please RSVP to hold your place.  If need be, we’ll start a waiting list. 24hrs cancellation by phone. (310) 922-4890

BRING:      A folded blanket and/or yoga mat to lay on for the breathing meditation, water, and a smile!

SUNDAY, September 12th 5:30-7pm  ~ THE PEACE THAT PASSES ALL UNDERSTANING;
ECSTATIC BREATHWORK at The Hub

Peace is not a thought or an emotion, it is an expression of the very Nature of who and what you are.  Recognizing it, Trusting it, and letting it permeate the fibers of your experience is the focus of this night.  Let yourself ignite the passion for cultivating a deeper relationship with what is permanent, lasting, and whole...with The Peace That Passes All Understanding.
 

Breath Deep. Heart Awake. Body Soft. Attention Clear.

Join Us.

These workshops are for all levels of experience and are nothing less than a tool for setting yourself free.  We’ll use a simple yet powerful breathing meditation as the linchpin for the work.  I call it ECSTATIC BREATHWORK.

 

When:       SUNDAY night 9/12/10  5:30-7pm   
                    ((Arrive early to avoid being late))
Exchange:       $35
Where:      The Hub (http://thehub-la.com)
                    2001 S Barrington Ave, Suite 150, Los Angeles, CA 90025-5363 US
                    { S Barrington Ave between LaGrange and Mississippi }
                    Entrance for the Hub is located on street level at the ground floor of the
                    parking structure located on South Barrington Avenue.
Bring:          Yoga mat and/or blanket-we'll be sitting on the floor at first then lying down
                     for the breathwork.
RSVP:        You can reserve your spot through The Hub  310-575-4200


These ECSTATIC BREATHWORKSHOPS are nothing less than a journey deeper into the experience and expression of who and what you are, a journey into the Heart of Freedom within.  Through a simple and powerful breathing meditation, you gain and deepen the tools for seeing past your former limitations, gain muscle for being your own best ally, teacher, and healer, and deeply taste a place free of insecurity, full of self-love.

LOVE,
SCOTT
http://trustthebreath.com
http://scottschwenk.blogspot.com
http://huffingtonpost.com/scott-schwenk    

Heart of Compassion...

This morning, actually, just a few minutes ago, I opened an email from an Aunt of mine on the heels of listening for what I might write about today. The email is a series of pictures of Americans serving in the Armed Forces over in the Middle East with captions like: When a soldier comes home, he finds it hard to...followed by hearing people complaining about what seem like everyday annoyances to the average working American...like getting a bad night's sleep, or potholes, etc.

What touches me more than anything about this email, and has been speaking to me for some time now, is the degree of alienation these men and women experience upon returning to this country from an experience so foreign to most if not all of the people they know. An experience so outside the box of what's considered normal, and so grotesque, so filled with the things that most of us only see in movies or nightmares.

What touches me about all of this, is that place in so many of us that feels separate. That place separation can spawn so much suffering, and seeming coping behaviors that only serve to deepen the feelings of separation and aloneness that intensify insecurity and grief.

What will we do about this? Are we willing to look at it? Are we willing to look at the places of insecurity and separation within and heal them? Can working with these places inside of ourselves make a difference in the lives of the people around us? Can this inner work help people to heal just through our mere presence?

Yes...in my experience, a deep resounding YES!

A healer is someone who is willing to do the work of Loving him or herself in the presence of anyone and everyone. This Self-Love ripples out in all directions without the need for words, and infuses all words. It ricochets through my lineage setting my ancestors free as I find my own freedom through Self-Love.

No matter the feelings I or you have about war, government, politics, and international relations. Behind all the rhetoric are men and women with Hearts. Some confused. Some not so confused. And all with Hearts; Hearts that feel, that ache for Love, that long for connection, to feel seen and heard, and known.

Will you give that gift today?

Will you Love yourself in the presence of someone who's driving funky in front of you, rather than jump to judgment, irritation, and anger?

Will you Love yourself in the presence of your own illusory insecurities?

Will you forgive me for not always meeting your needs?

Will you forgive You for not always meeting your needs?

Love, real abiding Love, starting with the discipline of Self-Love is the Philosopher's Stone that can and will turn any base feelings and experiences into the Gold of Freedom.

In the words of an old friend and mentor, John King, "I Love you, and you don't have a vote in it!"

Let's Not Just Talk About Sex (Baby)...

This is in part, picking a dialogue that is sprouting in the garden of one of my communities...and in particular, by my friend Katrina's recent fore into the topic (see here: http://tinyurl.com/ydpy68q ) and even more recent dipping of toes into the world of Tantra. (Or at least an aspect of Tantra...there are so many).

So much of the known expressions of tantra have to do with Polarity~male and female, balance. However, what if things aren't that reduceable? What about those of us that Native American traditions call the "Twin-Spirited" ones? Are the elemental building blocks really just balancing two elements, male and female? Or is that idea training wheels for a deeper revelation...into what my friend Jason Harler (creator of NestSpa at the Standard Hotel Miami, and home of the Integral Spiritual Center in Miami) calls "Resonance". Ever since he mentioned this idea, it's been rolling around inside, forcing me to question asumptions around relational energy in general (not just between humans, but with EVERYTHING), and my energy in specific.

So if you have two men or two women, it's not so much that one has to hold the masculine and the other the feminine. That's a bit a of flat-lander perspective that seems to traffic mostly through a strong dualistic paradigm. And yet life, CREATION is much more faceted than merely two perspectives, male, and female. Those are conveniences of language. And unexplored conveniences of language become traditions and traditions become measuring rods for morality so much of the time...though based on WORDS more than the actualities themselves.

In the exploration of perspectives, modern-day ontological rabble-rousers like Ken Wilber have gone on to pull back the veils obscuring the myopic belief-structures of individuals, groups, societies, and this particular world...revealing legions of ancestors and living, breathing modern-day thinkers, who've created altars to Trojan Horses. What's the Trojan Horse here? Substituting the names of things for the things themselves. Believing maps to be the territories themselves. The word Moon isn't the Moon, and will never give the experience of gazing at the Moon, much less standing on its surface.

Are we ready to jump off the "Either/Or" bandwagon where things are either good or bad, up or down, in or out, masculine or feminine? Are we ready to let go of the fear of screwing things up and landing in one of Dante's hells for simply being aligned with the "wrong" ideas?

What if there truly aren't right and wrong. What if there are infinite perspectives, and they're ALL true simultaneously? What then? What kind of inner wisdom would we need to awaken and TRUST to live and thrive in a world where there are no set meanings, no right ways or wrong ways, no pass or fail? What kind of Awareness would be expressing through a being who's given up fear of judgement? Probably...one who's given up fear of judgment has stopped using judgement to aid and abet fear within....has stopped classifying nearly everything as safe/unsafe, good/not good, nice/not nice, beautiful/ugly, profane/sacred...

This rich tapestry of sound, taste, sight, knowing, feeling, living...is infinitely deep, wide...what would it be like to live in this symphony of a world for a whole day without a name for anything, just the Direct Experience moment-by-moment?

Why cultivate peace/stillness?

It was in Pondicherry, many years ago, in the season when tropical rains and sometimes cyclones sweep down suddenly and bring devastation. At such times, doors and windows have to be barricaded with thick bamboo laths. That night, a cyclone broke out with torrents of rain, and Mother hastened toward Sri Aurobindo's room to help him shut his windows. He was seated at his table, writing (for years Sri Aurobindo spent twelve hours a day writing, from six in the evening till six in the morning, then eight hours walking up and down "for the yoga"). The windows were wide open, and not a drop of rain had come in. The peace that reigned in the room, recalls Mother, was so solid, so compact, that the cyclone COULD NOT enter. ~from SRI AUROBINDO or THE ADVENTURE OF CONSCIOUSNESS by Satprem