Hello Everyone,

Welcome to the August 2009 Breath and Breathing Report. I’m writing to you from Moscow. We just finished ten days on the shore of Issyk-kul Lake in Kyrgyzstan, surrounded by spectacular snow-capped mountains. Lesia has been my traveling companion, seminar co-leader, as well as my interpreter/translator. Her beautiful female energy brings a wonderful softness, lightness and balance to the work. 

The training took place in a small village called Kadzhi Say. As usual, Nina Nastich gathered a wonderful group of people who made the trek from Kazakhstan. It was great to see so many familiar faces and to meet so many new people. The training included two days in the thermal pool, and we also rented a couple of mini-buses to take us to the mud baths and the “salty lake.” (It is said to be saltier than the dead sea). Thank you to Jenya, Anwar, Artyom, and Katya from Almata, and to Catherine from Paris. They helped everyone to dive deep and to fly high!

The Buddha also seems to have joined us during the sessions. Or perhaps it’s better to say that our own Buddha Nature arose from within, awakening that sublime smile… the one that makes all hearts glow with a still, quiet, and loving peace. A huge and bright double rainbow appeared in the sky at one point, as if to join us in the celebration! What a wonderful gift it is to discover that “happiness cannot be found through great effort or will power;” that peace is always already present in open relaxation. What a joy it is to drop down (or rise up) to that original place that lives beyond or before the mind. What a pleasure it is to experience the presence of pure awareness that exists around the box of our personality (our mask). What a blessing it is to breathe free of our past, to let go of our conditioning, and to taste the Real True Self. 

And as each gathering comes to a close, and we go our “separate” ways, moving back into the everyday world, I want to remind everyone that the night always follows the day, and the dawn always follows the night. Don’t be shocked or shaken by an unconscious world. Just as the breath comes and goes, so too does everything in our reality. Keep returning to the truth of your being. I woke up today to the wonderful words of Rumi: 

“This being human is a guest house. Each morning a new arrival, a joy, a depression, a meanness. Some momentary awareness comes as an unexpected visitor. Welcome and entertain them all. Even if they are a crowd of sorrows who violently sweep your house empty of its furniture. Still, treat each guest honorably. He may be clearing you out for some new delight. The dark thought, the shame, the malice: meet them all at the door laughing, and invite them in. Be grateful for whoever comes: because each guest has been sent as a guide from beyond.”

Before Kyrgyzia, we spent a week in the Altai region of Siberia. It was an overnight bus ride from Novosibirsk. We ended up in Manjerok, at a tourist camp nestled in thick green valley by a river where ancient villagers once lived. Nearby was a monument to the original Turk tribes that once populated the region. The local honey and the bee pollen was delicious. We did some rafting on the Katun River, and we danced in the rain. There were thirteen of us. Like pioneers, we used the breath to explore some uncharted territory deep within our psyches. Thank you so much to Jenya and Alla, and to everyone for an unforgettable experience.

Before the Altai, we spent a week in the Baikal region of Siberia. It was a three hour drive from Irkutsk, then another three hours by boat. About twenty of us ended up at a remote tourist base on the shore of the deepest lake in the world. The pure air and rugged countryside provided a perfect place to breathe—and a perfect place to do some cold water rebirthing! The hot showers and electricity only worked for about three hours a day. And the food that they served in the old soviet style “stolovaya” was… uh…er… um… well… interesting to say the least. Thank God, a stash of mixed nuts, sunflower seeds and dried fruit saved us from utter starvation! Our group was light and fun, and the sessions were very powerful. Most of the participants camped in the hills nearby. And while we were there, we were treated to a group of young hip hop dancers learning some great moves with visiting teachers from the US and Europe. Thank you so much to Danil and Alok, and to everyone who took part in the adventure.

Now I am on my way to Italy and the Hill That Breathes. I am looking forward to a dose of luxury after three weeks of roughing it and being off the grid. On August 22, it’s back to Russia for more programs in Ufa, Neftekamps, Tyumen, and Moscow. I plan to be back in the USA on September 15. We are postponing the training in Nassau, so I’ll have some extra time to spend in the States If anyone would like to organize a group or schedule some sessions while I’m there, let me know. The last stop is Ventura, CA (October 14-24). I hope to put a few more miles on the Corvette while I am there. The engine was completely rebuilt when I was in Texas. And Linda has been storing at her place near Santa Barbara since then. Hey, is anyone interested in buying it? It’s a fun toy: a real road rocket! I have been gradually restoring the “beast” with the idea of selling it and using the money to build a casita in Mexico.

Speaking of Mexico, the rainy season is starting in the southern Baja. And I just got word that the cows have been pushing their way through the fences and feasting on the falling mangos. Angela was there getting a nursery started. She was holding down the fort after Andrew left. And while he was there, he dug two of the swales. I can’t wait to get back to see the changes! We are coming into the third year of our five year plan, and things are accelerating. We will have a permaculture intern with us this year, and will be inviting Woofers (Willing Workers On Organic Farms) I am also inviting anyone who would like to take part in the community building, facilities design and construction, and the farming and gardening projects, to come and live. And we still have places for five more founders if anyone wants to invest in an eternal home.

Our place is nestled into the foothills of the Sierra Laguna Mountains, near the hot springs at El Chorro. Los Cabos, a world class vacation resort, is just an hour away. With La Paz to the north and Todos Santos to the west, life is gentle and sweet, and so are the people. There are lots of attractions: something for everyone. Maybe you will be one of the many people who thought they were just coming for a short vacation, but ended up living there!

So, I guess that’s all the news that’s fit to print. Don’t forget about “What if? The Movie” The film company has joined up with a marketing and distribution team that will promote this first part of the Trilogy on awakening human potential. You can order the DVD or view it on line. Go to: http://www.whatifthemovie.tv/?Click=212

I recently re-edited an old article from my journal, and include it here for your “edutainment!” 

Love to the all and the small,
Dan

It Ain’t a Dream! 

His words still ring in my ears. "This ain't no dream!" He was reading my mind. Just a moment before, I had thought: “Is this a dream? Am I dreaming?” Suspended in the air like that, feet dangling, his huge drunken hands at my throat; I could only hope it was a dream. My heart was pounding, my lips were numb, and my fingertips were blue. With stale beer on his breath, screaming into my face, spitting as he did, there was no mistaking it: this was not a dream. I was awake, intensely awake. I was aware of everything in me and around me. In a drop of sweat on his face I could see my own reflection! Every single movement in that bar, no matter how slight, was reflected in that drop of sweat. My My senses were heightened to a peak. Reality seemed to open up. Time stopped.

It was the night before our training was due to start. ‘Ragman’ one of the Navy's Finest was to be my survival instructor, but I thought I was dead. It was a set up—a sick joke. My new buddies had encouraged me to go over and shake his hand and introduce myself. But when I did, he exploded onto me like a wild animal. Suddenly I was fighting for my life. I did everything I could to kick and beat him off. In my panicked flailing, I actually landed some pretty solid—and what should have been crippling—blows. But he was impervious to them. He seemed invincible, invulnerable. Soon I was spent. Muscle fatigue turned into muscle failure. I went limp.

He had me helplessly pressed against the wall in the back of the Green Derby—a dark dingy bar in Washington, DC—second home to a small group of deep sea divers, special operations technicians, and navy seals. Stunned and spinning as if in a dream, unable to breathe, something in me just snapped. It was as if a pattern of fear in me had broken. I was actually curious to know what would happen next. Although my life was passing before my eyes, I was floating free! I was more awake, more alive, and more at peace than ever before. Just then, he released his grip. He held my shoulders and shook me. Then he gave me the most amazing hug. He looked me in the eyes, and in a raspy voice, said: “You’re going to be alright!” The event changed me forever.

There have been other moments of awakening: gentler, smoother, quieter. We were traveling cross-country enjoying life on a Virginia road when I saw that padlock. It was shining in the sun, hanging on the back of a dirty 18-wheeler, stopped at a train crossing in front of us. In it, I could see the reflection of my van, and I could see myself behind the wheel; and I could see every shimmering hair on my wife Louise's head. In that moment, my younger son Dennis, sitting behind me, blinked. I saw each and every one of his eyelashes reflected in that padlock! 

For no reason at all, I was overcome with joy, flooded with peace and filled with power. It was unbelievable, mind-boggling. It was an awe-inspiring experience. The moment expanded and stretched on… I could see the clouds overhead reflected in that padlock. And they were somehow bigger, brighter, and puffier than any clouds I had ever seen in the sky! I could hear every word of “Dream Weaver” playing on the radio. I could feel every cell in my body tingling. It was a moment of freedom. I was pure energy. Everything was pure energy: everything was vibrating, humming. It was a moment of love: love of life, the love of existence. It was a timeless moment of ecstasy. It was the kind of experience that could satisfy a life of yearning and give meaning to a world of struggle. Sometimes I think that I’ve had more than my share of these sacred moments. But still they come.

At the lowest point of my life, I sat in jail. Angry and alone, I was tired of fighting. I found myself scrubbing a urinal. Lost in surrender, in the freedom to work, to be productive… the moment came. There in that brass drain I could see my reflection. I hadn’t shaved in 17 days; I hadn’t even looked in a mirror. I think it was shame. But now I was looking at my face as if for the first time. I could also see the face of the guard standing behind me. And I could see the wall behind him. I could see a crack in the wall that led up to the ceiling above us. The sun was shining through the bars in the window, and I could see countless particles of dust shimmering in the rays that came through the small window. Everything, all of it, was being reflected in that brass drain! 

My borders began to melt. My body tingled with every breath I took. Here, in confinement, with no reason to feel good, I felt better than I had ever felt before. I felt pure peace and pure joy. I was in ecstasy! I watched my mind struggle to make sense of it all. Where were these feelings coming from? What had I done to deserve them? What was happening to me? Could this be real? But the tingling energy, the boiling bliss was very real. And it was everywhere. It was in everything! It was as if the air was made up of tiny bubbles of light. And when I breathed in the air, these bubbles of light were bursting everywhere inside of me—like a cosmic orgasm! Something beautiful, something powerful in me could not be contained. It was cracking me open. Love and light, peace and joy were pouring out of me. It was overwhelming, uncontrollable. It seemed like a dream, but only compared to the everyday life of struggle, guilt, pain, and confusion that I was accustomed to. 

That energy and the feelings that were awakened in that moment stayed with me. For several days everything made me laugh, everything made me cry. Everything sparkled. Everything vibrated. I loved myself. I loved life. And I loved everyone. I didn't eat. I didn't sleep. I was speechless. Something in me was healed. Something was washed away: an old hurt, a nagging anger, a deep resentment… something. Everyone who came to check on me in my cell—the changing guards, the psychiatrist, the warden—they also laughed. They also cried. Not only had something awakened in me, but it was also awakening something in them. Somehow, people were being transformed by my presence. Whoever dared to approach me with a hint of humanity—with even slightly lowered defenses—felt their hearts open. They too experienced something out of the ordinary: a feeling of love and joy, a sense of wholeness and oneness, of peace and power, of freedom and safety…if only for a moment.

Years earlier, when my first son Danny was born, it was in the midst of emotionally trying and psychologically difficult times. The nurses and the hospital staff were insensitive and uncooperative. I was angry, tired, anxious, and frustrated when we finally left the hospital. I was stomping around, slamming doors and swearing. And just as I was about to start the car, Louise put our baby boy in my arms. In an instant, looking into the eyes of this tiny miracle... it happened! My heart opened. Time stopped. I surrendered. Everything changed. The tension melted. The anger dissolved. The frustration disappeared. Love poured out of his little body! This love seemed to come from him or through him, and it touched every cell of my body. Like a soft white light, it filled me, and it filled Louise and it filled the car, and it filled the people in the hospital; and it flowed out to everything in the world. Just like that, I was awakened. I was transformed. I was renewed. I was reborn. I was part of that flow!

Once, in the Navy, my ship was riding out an icy storm in the Bering Sea off the coast of Alaska. Half the crew was sick and the other half was fighting the sickness off. I was told that at one point our ship took a 62 degree roll. We were all trying to keep things tied down and in place. Suddenly it seemed as if the storm was subsiding. I felt drawn out to the weather deck. Along with four of my shipmates, I watched the ocean go from a vicious heaving frenzy to a still calm lake. There was fog, and the air was warm. The silence and stillness was eerie. Thousands of black ducks—ocean birds—were huddled there together with us in the eye of the storm. Our ship, the USS Beaufort, gently cut a path and slipped through what looked like a thick carpet of life. I leaned over the railing, and every single one of those birds cocked their heads and looked directly into my eyes. I watched them passively bounce and bob off the side of the ship and ride along in our wake.

There was a lone sea gull sitting on a log. There was floating debris. And there was that amazing silence and stillness. Just then I remembered my buddies, and turned to look at them. The expressions on their faces reflected my own feelings. They too were captured by the moment, enraptured by life. It seemed that our personal identities and any sense of separateness had disappeared. Something deep within us was touched, was stilled, and was made silent. The moment seemed to last forever... But suddenly the wind picked up, the ship began to rock, the waves began to batter us, and the icy sea was once again raging. We were nearly washed overboard as we struggled to get back inside. 

We sat in the galley cold and wet, drinking coffee. When we who had shared that moment met with our eyes, our hearts wanted to explode. But the feelings were too strong, too strange and too real to talk about. We wanted to cry. But it just wasn’t something any of us were ready or able to do. We weren’t the kind of guys who went around surrendering to universal love or expressing uncontrollable joy. It was clear to us that no amount of words would be enough to express what we felt. And as it turned out, no words were necessary. We all knew that we had shared something special, something sacred. We were all left with a greater reverence toward life, toward each other, and toward ourselves. I experienced a natural spirit of love and oneness that still feeds me to this day.

I must say that something in me continues to crave these amazing moments of ordinary bliss and natural ecstasy. I am continually attracted to people who are ready for such moments. I seem to gravitate to places and events where these moments are begging to occur. Falling into them from time to time leaves me filled beyond capacity, yet wanting them more and more. The in-between times are filled with the work of inviting—or should I say allowing—more of these moments to come. I've studied psychology, religion and philosophy. I've traveled to India and to China. I've practiced meditation, healing arts, and a host of traditional and new age self-improvement methods in order to learn how to induce these moments. Family, friends, music, prayer, sex, nature, and other things have brought these moments to life. And often, simply looking into the eyes of a beloved, out of nowhere and for no reason at all… Ahhhhhh!

I love to teach others how to invite and absorb these moments, how to relax into them, to expand and allow them, how to be available to them, and how to share them. I love exploring, discovering, and developing methods, and refining techniques that open us to these sacred moments. My constant wish is that everyone I know will experience these moments. My ongoing prayer is that everyone I meet will feel this energy of love and peace and joy, of freedom ands safety. And from all my searching, I have learned this: these moments come from being totally present in the moment. They come through profound relaxation. They come from being with whatever is, exactly as it is. They come from accepting ourselves and forgiving ourselves. These moments actually reflect the ever-present reality of our being. It is we who keep coming and going. It is we who keep opening and closing. It is we who keep forgetting and remembering. It is we who keep falling asleep and waking up.

My experience has also given me utter certainty of this: these moments naturally come with Breath Awareness and Conscious Breathing. They come through the practice of Breathwork—Spiritual Breathing. These amazing, miraculous, dream-come-true, once-in-a-lifetime moments are everyday events on the Path of Breath Mastery! These moments are what my sessions and my seminars are really about. This is my hidden agenda. It is what I live for. If you would like to take part in this divine conspiracy, then I invite you to join me… 

In Love.