Month: January 2014

I will participate in the game. It is a wonderful opera – except that it hurts

"It is joyful just as it is. I don’t believe there was anybody who intended it, but this is the way it is. James Joyce has a memorable line: 'History is a nightmare from which I am trying to awake.' And the way to wake from it is not to be afraid, and to recognize that all of this, as it is, is a manifestation of the horrendous power that is of all creation. The ends of things are always painful. But pain is part of there being a world at all … … [click on title for the rest of the post]

Happy MLK Day to all of us creatively maladjusted, nonconforming folk

“This hour in history needs a dedicated circle of transformed nonconformists. Our planet teeters on the brink of annihilation; dangerous passions of pride, hatred, and selfishness are enthroned in our lives; and men do reverence before false gods of nationalism and materialism. The saving of our world from pending doom will come, not through the complacent adjustment of the conforming majority, but through the creative maladjustment of a nonconforming minority.” … [click on title for the rest of the post]

As holistic beings medical & psychological/spiritual issues are almost always intertwined

Art by Jung from the Red Book

Sadly people want to slice the human experience up...all the time...even the most enlightened among us... People want to make out that SOME people really are sick beyond help...it just doesn't hold up...what is apparent is that far too many people don't know how to help those who get labeled with psychiatric illness. Not that they are actually hopeless. … [click on title for the rest of the post]

magic is ordinary

There is a relationship between the eye contacts we make and the perceptions that we create in our heads, a relationship between the sound of another's voice and the emotions that we feel in our hearts, a relationship between our movements in space all around us and the magnetic pulls we can create between others and ourselves. All of these things (and more) make up the magic of every ordinary day... … [click on title for the rest of the post]

Contrary to popular opinion “major depression” can respond to non-drug options!

YES, THANK YOU...don't believe the hype about how essential drugs are in severe cases. It's possible to make healthy choices and avoid neurotoxic and dangerous drugs most of the time. People need to be offered options as a very real possibility. As it stands now people are often misled to believe they need drugs when another method of care may actually be more appropriate. "Alternative" care needs to become mainstream so that people might become truly and deeply healthy. … [click on title for the rest of the post]

Washing of the Water — Saturday Mellow

River, river carry me on Living river carry me on River, river carry me on To the place where I come from So deep, so wide will you take me on your back for a ride If I should fall would you swallow me deep inside … [click on title for the rest of the post]

Benzodiazepine withdrawal as told by a woman in the midst of it…

This is a story I know so well and I generally can't and don't read stories anymore having read literally 1000s of them now. This video, however, grabbed me and it also brought me to tears. This is my story too. And the story of 100s of thousands of us and yet it's a story that is still widely denied within psychiatry and medicine in general. Benzodiazepines are not the only drug that create this sort of withdrawal syndrome. … [click on title for the rest of the post]

A radiant sutra

In a time of terror - When fleeing from danger - In the midst of sorrow - When you are totally confused, Or intensely curious - When ravenous with hunger - Or totally sated - Whenever you stumble Into any such moment, awaken, Wild attentiveness everywhere. Ride the shockwaves inward To contact the Great Self,... Continue Reading →

brief musings from the day…

Briefly, for me, non-attachment to feelings and/or ideas is the ability to watch, feel and experience without believing the narrative that might accompany the feelings or the experience and then being able to respond if appropriate rather than reacting. It’s about living in the moment and surrendering to the unknown. This is a practice in that one is always developing this skill. … [click on title for the rest of the post]

Restorative yoga

I've been practicing aspects of restorative yoga since the beginning of my rehabilitation. To be clear, however, at the height of the protracted withdrawal issues and for a couple of years I could not hold poses for very long without extreme discomfort and so it was a highly modified practice for a long time. In classic restorative yoga poses are held for up to ten minutes...even more sometimes. This was not doable for me for a long time. Listening to the body is always important with yoga. If you're recovering from psych drug iatrogenesis it becomes highly critical. Yoga helps heal the autonomic nervous system if it's done in tandem with the bodies needs. Psych drug withdrawal syndrome is essentially an autonomic nervous system injury. Listening closely to the body allows one to let yoga heal your mind/body/spirit. … [click on title for the rest of the post]

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