Doug Stanhope

Plays Medford Oregon, June 2014.

On Sunday June 22nd, 2014 comedian Doug Stanhope appeared at “The Whiskey Room” in Medford, Oregon. When I first heard about this show, I could not believe that Doug was actually going to do it. I never dreamed he’d ever play Medford and since seeing him “live” was on my comedy bucket list, I figured I’d have to travel to Portland or San Francisco if I was ever going to check this one off. And since I hate to travel I figured this was a long shot.

I knew he was booked to play Portland on the 25th, but I just couldn’t work it out to be at that show…just way too much time and driving for me to deal with…So when I got a late night email from a friend and fellow Stanhope fan that he was coming to Medford, (I live in nearby Ashland), I was elated and immediately bought a couple of tickets (only $25 each!). Soooo glad I did.

My buddy Neil and I are huge Stanhope fans and were there plenty early to get the best seats we could get, which turned out to be right in front of the stage. We saved a couple of seats for my other friend Scott, the one who first told me about the show, with his friend Ian. So when they showed up much later, they were able to join us up front. Neil and I had gone out for sushi before hand, had a few beers and other uh…edible herbal intoxicants and were feelin’ no pain when the show got started.

The musical opener turned out to be my friend Maurice Woodard the “One Man Band” who did an hour with his keyboards and electric guitars. It was getting noisy and what with the acoustics of the room (not very good) and the general mood of anticipation and partying, it was not easy to listen, but we did take in his general vibe and smiled as he went through his usual fantastic vocals and well-known Soul and R & B classics.

A word or two about the room itself. It is a large room but not what you’d call a roomy room. The space is interrupted by numerous big screen TV’s, spinning light effects which cast patterns and laser dots everywhere, and there's an elevated loft in the back of the room which is basically a very deep balcony with very few decent views of the stage.  It also has very high ceilings which make the sound kind of boomy and…just weird. The stage is in the front left corner of the room and there’s a huge multi-paned window looking out on the street that’s right to the side of the stage. This window has no covering and faces West so there’s actual sunlight on the stage until the sun goes down. So in short, not a very good room for comedy, to say the least. And not at all the kind of room Doug was probably used to playing.

So we’re hanging out, listening to Maurice as best we can and Neil points out that Bingo, Doug’s girlfriend is over by the bar. He tells me that she’s really cool and he’d had a few words with her. So I went over to get a coke and while I was there I struck up a conversation with her. I started with, “Man I cannot believe that Doug is playing here.” To which she replied, “Neither did we!” It seems Doug was very very pissed off about the quality of the venue, the stuff they’d failed to come through with in the Green Room, the sound system, just about everything about the place. As she put it, “He’s going to come out on fire.” She even hinted that he might be having trouble getting a drink. She was indeed very cool, relaxed, and we chatted nicely for a bit.

After a little while longer I went back to see if I could buy Doug a drink, since we were at the front table. I followed Bingo out to the back patio where she went through a metal gate into a sort of parking lot back there…I opened the gate a bit and there she was, talking with Doug. I said, “Hey man, we’re in the front row, can we buy you a drink?” Doug smiled and said, “No thanks man, I’m good.” So that was that.

Doug had an opener with him…Andy Andrist. He was from Eugene and very funny. Vulgar for sure, but funny as hell. We really liked him a lot. We were planning on buying his DVD or CD, but given the way the evening ended…this turned out to be impossible.

After Andy finished his set, he introduced Doug and out he came, indeed, on fire. Wearing an orange sport coat and orange plaid pants, the first thing he said was, “I have no one but myself to blame for tonight’s show…” He then proceed to tear the venue a new one…going after the sound system…the “Champagne Room” in the back with its sticky floors…the huge window with sunlight pouring in…“Nothing can be funny in this kind of light!”…at one point he even climbed up the wall of window panes…he said the balcony/loft thing was like playing a prison…there were actually a couple of couches right up on stage with him and on one of them sat an elderly couple who he said were pretty much trapped if they didn’t like his act…he had fun with them throughout the show and even bought them shots at one point…He came out with a huge plastic jug of “Popov” vodka which he drank from in a tall glass and had Bingo bring him some other shots from the bar as well…He said several times that he really didn’t want to be there and that if he drank enough, he would likely forget he ever was…in between ragging on the venue and how bad he felt the show was going…all hilarious by the way, the crowd was howling…he did some of what I presumed were his latest bits…all funny as hell…a great piece about how he cannot get sponsors for his act…even Popov vodka (which he called “hobo plasma”) turned him down…kids with cancer…the TV show “Locked Up Abroad”…and a few other choice bits that I can’t recall right now…All the while getting drunker and looking at his watch and talking about making it through his allotted time…we laughed our asses off and felt like this was really a rare treat…not just his stage act but Doug right there in real time dealing with something he was really pissed off about and riffing on it. Kind of like a combination of his stage act and just hanging out with him being funny at a party. I’m pretty sure he hadn’t played a venue like this in a long time. It might have reminded him of his early years and set him to thinking “Jesus Christ, how long have I been doing this and I’m back here?!?” In any case, it was great to watch him take all of this and turn it into his art, into part of his act. As I said, a real treat. At one point he started fumbling in his jacket looking for his “notes”…I think he had a few more bits for us…but he couldn’t find them…so he just sort of said, Fuck it…and tossed the big vodka jug to his doorman, jumped off the stage, crawled and rolled over the very front table by the door and literally ran out the front door where Bingo and “Jim” and whoever he was traveling with no doubt had the engine running and left. Not to be seen again! An epic closing, I thought, to a great evening that my buddies and I will never forget. (I even grabbed a souvenir from Doug’s area.)   ;~)

Everything In This World Is So Unlikely…

And Yet, Here It Is. 

At least for a moment, until it becomes something else. Look around the space you are in right now. What are the odds that everything around you would be in this exact configuration at this particular moment in time? And yet, here it is. Every single thing that exists sits at the top of a giant pyramid of lucky breaks. 

My grandfather told me this story shortly before he died. His father, my great-grandfather, was a very quiet man. My grandfather hardly ever heard him speak. And yet he had a way of letting it be known what he was thinking and how he was feeling. One night when my grandfather was a young man, he brought a young lady home to meet his parents. I guess at some point in the evening he looked over at his father as if to say, Well, what do you think? His father just gave him a look with a very slight disapproving shake of the head and he knew that this girl was not for him. Shortly afterwards, he brought my grandmother home to meet his parents and this time his father gave him a slight, almost imperceptible nod that said, This is the one.

If it wasn’t for that little nod, I would not exist. And yet, here I am. 

Love Or Money?

If I Can’t Have Both, I’ll Take Love…

I read about a study where they asked people, What percentage of your work time is filled with doing what you feel you do best? The average was pretty low. Many people reported that they never got to do what they did best at work. And there was a correlation between a higher percentage and how much people enjoyed their jobs, regardless of what the job was. Like cab drivers who were good with people and good drivers and got to do both all day long were happier than cab drivers who were really good at playing the drums and never got to do that at work. I well understand that there are economic needs and forces here, so I don't mean to put down the drummer-cab driver. He has to do what he has to do.

Very early in my life I realized a few things: 1. that I had a strong need to enjoy what I was doing in order to put much energy into anything 2. that I enjoyed things that didn't seem to make much money 3. that I had a very low ability to tough it out and override 1. and 2. just to make money, and 4. that a typical middle class life (house, kids, car, etc.) would be difficult for me to pay for given 1. and 2. So...I kept my expenses to a minimum...had a vasectomy when I was 29...and kept looking for a way to pay for that relatively modest life by doing something that I loved. I've never made much money, and I have had some real angels in my life who helped support my efforts, but I've never been late for the rent or other bills and I'm still somehow afloat. And...I get to do what I feel I do best...Teaching (T'ai-Chi) and making music...100% of my work day. But I also do without much of what my generation would consider "success".

I think a lot of people would be happier if they set their economic sites much lower...had fewer kids or waited longer to have them...drove a funkier car or better yet got a bike...jettisoned a lot of the stuff they think they "need" which they actually only need because they work so many hours at jobs they hate...and focused instead on finding the kind of work they really enjoy, regardless of what it pays, and building relationships with like-minded people. My experience is that people who are poor but enjoy what they're doing and have a solid community of friends are much happier than wealthy people who don't like their jobs and are socially isolated. And of course, if you can do both, more power to you, but I think that comes more from following "your bliss" and finding there's money in it, than it comes from following the money and finding there's bliss in it.

June News

From Gene Burnett

Summer is fast approaching and with it much warmer weather and more outdoor gigs. We’re in the middle of a pretty dry year here in Southern Oregon and everyone’s hoping for more rain this Spring and no fires this Summer. We will see.

Meanwhile, I’ve been writing a lot of songs and already getting ready to start a new recording. I’m hoping to do some duets and maybe a trio or two with some of the musicians I jam with at open mikes and such. It makes recording more complicated and expensive so I’m figuring out ways to make it as easy as possible. My albums barely pay for themselves so I can’t really go too overboard with production. Generally, my budget for an entire album is what some bands spend just setting up to record one song. ;~)

As usual, some new videos this month…See links below in the “New Videos” section.

My newest album is up on my site. It’s called “Doubles Hitter” and I’m very happy with it. Click here to listen to and/or download the songs free or with a donation: Doubles Hitter

So here we go…starting with the usual information about where to find my music, videos and pictures, including information about new projects, and then followed by information about local shows in case you’re in the Rogue Valley.

There is so much to listen to and watch on the net these days…I’m amazed anyone even gets this far in the newsletter let alone watches or listens to anything I’m doing. I’m sincerely grateful for every view, every listen, and every nice comment I receive. I’m happy if anything I post truly reaches even one person. I’m offering all this stuff in a “just in case you’re interested” spirit.

Recorded Music

My newest album is called “Doubles Hitter” and like all my other albums (30 so far…), it’s available for downloading free or with a donation at my website: www.GeneBurnett.com

Videos In General

Overall Mission: I post a lot of videos on youtube, over 1000 so far! I'm not trying to build a fan base...In fact, I'm not trying to build anything. I'm not expecting you or anyone else to follow what I'm doing or watch all of these videos. Posting videos is just part of my overall plan to make my music (and my T’ai-Chi and Nature videos too) as freely available as possible and see what freely comes back. I think of each video as sort of like a message in a bottle...and more I toss out there the more likely one of them will land on a friendly shore and something good will come back to me. So here are some video links in case you're interested:

How to Find My Videos: First of all, I've set up a "Videos" page on my website (www.GeneBurnett.com) with a menu similar to what you see below as well as a digital tip jar in case any of you want to contribute to my cottage industry. Every little bit helps and not just financially. 

I've also set up some blogs that make navigating and viewing my various videos much easier. You can go to any of these blogs and see thumbnails for all of the videos posted there. Scroll across the thumbnails and you will see the titles of each video. Click on it and a page will open that will let you watch the video right there without going to youtube. My latest videos are always in the upper left hand corner.

To see all of my Music videos in one easy to navigate place, click here: The Unforced Videos

To see all of my T'ai-Chi videos in one easy to navigate place, click here: The Unforced Movement

To see all of my Nature videos in one easy to navigate place, click here: The Unforced Nature

For a quick and easy way to sort through, listen to, or download all of my albums free or with a donation, click here: The Unforced Music

To see my regular blog “The Unforced Life”, click here: The Unforced Life

To visit my youtube channel and possibly subscribe, click here: My Youtube Channel

To see all of my youtube playlists click here: My Youtube Playlists 




New Videos

My “Doubles Hitter” youtube playlist. Includes videos for all the songs from my newest album:

Doubles Hitter Playlist

Me “live” at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival’s Hip-Hop Open Mike playing my song “Save Your Breath”:

Save Your Breath

Me “live” at the 2^nd Annual Willie Nelson’s Birthday Bash Open Mike at The Wild Goose Café and Bar here in Ashland:

Willie Nelson's Birthday Open Mike

Me “live” at the Annual Bob Dylan’s Birthday Bash Open Mike at The Wild Goose Café and Bar here in Ashland:

Shelter From The Storm

Man Of Peace

New “Sky Videos”:

Who's Gonna Believe?

Nothing's Pure

Dumb

A 60’s superhero TV theme song medley:

Superhero Theme Song Medley


“Three-Legged Dog”, featuring Mandy, a wonderfully happy dog:

Three-Legged Dog

“Color Me Grateful”, a new song, not on any albums yet:

Color Me Grateful

I came in second this time. Three more Rogue Poetry Slam videos of me reading my lyrics:

Praying Mantis Blues (Rogue Poetry Slam Version)

Closer To You (Rogue Poetry Slam Version)

Color Me Grateful (Rogue Poetry Slam Version)

Two new T’ai-Chi videos:

Chi Kung For When You're Too High

T'ai-Chi Throwing

Pictures


I've stopped posting as many pictures on facebook, (for many reasons), and started posting them instead on Flickr, which I like much better.

Here's a link to my "home page" at Flicker: Photostream.

I have many photo galleries there but a few of my favorites are:

Small Miracles (mostly Nature related stuff)

The Dish Whisperer (I started posting a daily picture of my dish stacking work over a year ago. I just passed the 900 straight days mark. I have no idea how long I’ll keep doing this. I’m so used to it, it hardly takes any effort at all to continue. I made a video for my song “I'll Do The Dishes Tonight” that featured a slideshow of the first year. I made it through my second year recently, and hope to create another video slideshow set to another of my songs. Stay tuned…)

"Head" and "Boot" (devoted to our two gerbils)

"Humor" 

"Me Playing Music"

Bathroom Pond Mural

Weird Book Covers

Trippy Clouds

Yellow Fungus 




Upcoming Shows:

Monday, June 2nd, I'll be playing at one of my favorite Ashland venues, Liquid Assets. A relaxed living room vibe with great service, excellent food and wine, and a really nice place to listen to music. I'll be playing from 8-10pm, maybe longer...

Wednesday June 4th, I'll be hosting my regular Themed Open Mike at The Wild Goose. Usually this happens on the First Wednesday of each month. This month's theme is “Songs With Cussin’“ so musicians and spoken word artists will be doing songs and poems with any adult language in them at all are good to go. We're never too strict or narrow about the themes for this event. The main idea is to focus our attention a little to hopefully inspire and motivate us creatively. These are always fun. No Cover at the friendliest bar in town. Sign-up is 7:30pm. Show starts at 8:00pm. 

*A heads up for next month: Wednesday July 2^nd, 2014. “Stones or Beatles!”

Tuesday, June 17^th, I'll be competing with many other poets at the Rogue Poetry Slam which happens at Northwest Pizza and Pasta in Ashland. Sign-up is at 7:30pm and the show starts at 8. $5 cover, all of which goes to the winning poets. If you've never been to or competed in a Poetry Slam, I highly recommend this one. Come to watch, compete, or be one of the judges. Some people think of slams as hardcore hip-hop events or places where people are mean and talk trash, but nothing could be further from the truth. All kinds of poetry are welcome and people are very supportive. And it's so nice to participate in an event that is all about the words, or in my case, lyrics. For me it's really not about winning or losing, but just the fun of sharing my words with people and seeing what happens.

Wednesday, June 18^th, I'll be playing at The Wild Goose. Just me solo from 8-11pm. Friendliest bar in town. Never a cover at The Goose. I usually play here on the Third Wednesday of every month.

Saturday June 21^st, I'll be at The Downtowne Coffeehouse in Talent, playing from 10am-Noon. Great acoustics, super friendly neighborhood scene.

Saturday, June 21^st, I'll be playing at Paddy Brannan's Irish Pub with The Graceful Losers, a.k.a. my good friend Robbie Lindauer backing me up on guitar and whoever else we can scare up for the gig. I’ve decided that whenever I play with other musicians in anything like a band setting, we will be called “The Graceful Losers”. We play from about 9pm 'til around Midnight. Stop by for a pint and some music. I've always liked the friendly and fun vibe of this place. One of my favorite places to play.

Saturday, June 28^th, weather permitting, from 3-5pm, I'll be playing at The Lithia Artisan's Market, behind the Plaza in Ashland. Come support local music and art!

For more info on these and all of my shows, and to confirm that there have been no cancellations, click here: Calendar  

Since I'm putting this newsletter out once a month, it's possible there may be a cancellation of a given show by the time it happens. Please double check with my web calendar if possible to be sure the gig is still happening. I'd hate to have you come out for nothing. Also another gig or two might be added or times or locations might change, so do check the calendar for the latest info.  


Website

I continue to offer all of my albums for downloading, free or with a donation at my website: www.GeneBurnett.com I started doing this about 7 or 8 years ago and considered it a 5 year creative experiment. Well the 5 years passed and I decided to start calling it my "ongoing creative experiment" as I have no plans to stop. Since I returned to my folk roots and stopped climbing, or trying to climb, the industry ladder, I've been enjoying music in my life more than ever before. And enjoyment, rather than achievement or worldly success has always been dearest to my heart anyway. So now I focus totally on what I love most: writing, recording, performing and sharing what I create. If other people like it, so much the better, but getting other people to like me or what I do is no longer my goal or focus. I'm out to please myself first. I want to do my music exactly the way I want to do it and see who likes it that way, not figure out what people will like and try to do it that way. I put it out there freely and see what comes freely back. So far so good. I've never had more success and appreciation than I have since I started doing it this. Go figure. 

Thanks, as usual, for your support and well wishes even if you don't make to any shows.

GB

www.GeneBurnett.com

Listening Audiences?

A Thing Of The Past?

It’s no secret that people are listening less and less and talking more and more at all kinds of musical events. It’s very rare to see a video of a live performance without seeing many many hands holding phones up to video the show. It seems that a lot of people are so interested in commenting on their experience or in generating content that they are almost unable to stop. They are always talking, texting, tweeting or checking their phones, and to let someone else take center stage in their heads is all but impossible, even for a few minutes. Many of my friends have complained about this. And I usually say, if you want there to be more listening, the best way to do that is to listen yourself, because the more people listening in a room, the more talking will stand out and the talking people will at least be encouraged to keep it down a little.

Personally, I don't expect anyone to listen to anything ever. I expect people to be in their own worlds, ADHD, checking their phones constantly, yelling, talking and generally oblivious, whether it's in a bar or a concert hall. It's always a nice surprise when they do listen, but I don't expect it anymore. However, I do my small part to encourage listening by listening myself. Listening can be like gravity that pulls other people in and gradually takes over a room...or not.

I don’t need people to listen in order to keep making music. Playing in public does not motivate me to keep creating music. I'm actually not motivated to create music and if I was it would not be to please other people, listening or not. I don't need a motivation to create music. Music itself is my motivation. Birds aren't motivated to sing, they just do. The word motivation usually implies a goal and a hoped for result. My motivation, if I have one, is to express myself, to sing my song just like the birds do and see what comes back. If an opportunity is presented to me to do this, I usually take it, but I generally don't spend much time making them happen. I make music because I have to in order to feel like myself. It's a part of me. I'm not doing it to get things for myself. That's nice of course, and I do have to make a living, but I'm not doing this to get something or somewhere. Most of the time, I'm doing it to do it, with no other goal in mind than that.

I’d prefer that people listen, but I don't impose my wishes on people where I play, which is mostly bars, restaurants and coffeehouses. Most businesses are so hard up for customers that if even one or two people didn't like my suggestions, or left, I would probably be fired. And I appreciate their concerns. I can understand why they'd rather have a bar full of loud noisy people than be out of business. I voice my opinions and suggestions here and on facebook to get them off my chest and maybe reach a few people who might consider being a bit more polite next time they're out and about.

I've accepted that times have changed and listening is going out of style. I've played many gigs where most of the people in the room spent most of their time on line or looking at their phones. It's almost exclusively people over 40 who complain with emotion about this tendency of people to not listen. To everyone else it's mostly just the way it is now.

We are all media saturated with so, so, so many music and entertainment options to choose from. It's one of the downsides to everyone and anyone being able to make their own CD's and videos. There's so much music that the water is incredibly muddy. The supply keeps going up and the demand keeps going down, so it's literally worth less and less all the time, in a general market sense.

When I was a kid, very few people around me played guitars and played gigs and virtually no one had their own albums unless they were at least kind of famous. Good musicians were fairly rare and got a bit of respect. Now they're literally everywhere. There must be hundreds of self produced albums in the valley where I live and I don't know how many original songs posted on line worldwide every day. Probably in the thousands. I don't expect anyone to listen to anybody and I sure don’t feel entitled to anyone’s attention. I'm always pleased and happily surprised whenever anyone listens to me and genuinely grateful if they actually like what they hear. Meanwhile I make my sound because it's a pleasure to make. It's not my career, it's my life.

I don't mind providing background music. Birds do it all day for free. I prefer that people listen and like it, but I don't blame them for not listening. They are free to do as they please. I do not put my heart and soul into what I do expecting to be listened to. I do it to do it.

A problem I often encounter is other people assuming that my goals and motivations are the same as theirs, or the same as most people who play music.

For the record: I am not interested in becoming famous. I am not interested in a recording contract. I am not interested in the "music industry".

I like to write, record and post my songs on line and sing publicly whenever and wherever it feels right. I am interested in seeing what comes back when I do this. I am fine with anyone who's signed on to the industry bandwagon covering my songs. I am fine with whatever money, fame, attention, or whatever comes back to me, as long as I get to do exactly what I'm doing now: whatever the Hell I feel like doing. I am willing to make almost no compromises whatsoever for fame and fortune. Again, this is my life, not my career.

If I only played at "listening" venues, I'd hardly play out at all. There is no listening scene where I live and not much of one in other places too. I see many, many youtube videos of some pretty well known folks playing in rooms with a constant murmur of talking going on. So background type scenes are pretty much what there is.

That said, every place I play, has been absolutely great from time to time. I've had hushed moments and longer periods of time that resembled an audience at every single place I play. I’ve also had fun nights playing with other musicians where the crowd was not necessarily listening closely to what we were doing, but definitely enjoying it and/or dancing to it.

I play out because I love to make my sound and see what happens. Even if people aren't listening actively, some part of them is getting what I do. If it's a raging noisy crazy place where I can't even hear myself, then I won't play there. But when I do play, I go to see what happens. I go to reach the people that are reachable with what I do. I usually reach at least someone every time I play. So it never feels like a waste of time to me.

When people are not listening, I can always take joy in making my sound and the simple act of practicing my songs. And I almost always do well in tips so something is getting through.

Usually though, it’s a pretty mixed bag. I've played in many bar or coffeehouse situations where the staff were some of the loudest people in the room. I think we're all pretty music saturated in our lives and coupled with our internet fueled self-importance, listening to people play music is just not what people are interested in doing, even if they pay to get in. I love to make my sound. I need to make it actually, in places where I have a chance at being heard, so I will continue to take whatever I can get. The less I care about what audiences do and the more I focus on the work at hand, the happier I am. But it sure is nice to be listened to and heard.

Some of my friends get mad when I tell them stories about some of my gigs, but I don't feel I have any right to tell anyone to shut up and listen. I don't even "go after them" when I play. I offer what I offer and the audience does the same.

And please keep in mind that I very rarely play anything like a concert. I'm talking about bars, restaurants and coffeehouse type situations. I keep my volume at a level where people who don't want to listen don't have to, and people who do want to listen can do so. What bugs me is when people are really loud and disrespectful. A little rowdy is one thing, being the only table in the room yelling and screaming is another. But even then, it's not on the level of "I am an artist, pay attention to me!" It's more like it's just hard to hear myself and concentrate on what I'm doing when people are being really loud. It's more a functional interference than a psychological one. I'm totally used to people not listening and do not usually take it personally.

When I was focused on whether or not people were listening and whether or not they liked my music or whether I got booked at this or that venue and what my status was, etc. I was pretty unhappy, always considering quitting and in fact did totally quit singing and writing more than once. Since I gave up all that and started focusing mostly on the work and letting the audience feel and do whatever they want to, I'm much more happy and productive. I'm focused on the parts of making music that I enjoy most. And ironically, I’ve gotten a few really nice gigs that used to forever elude me when I was trying to get them so hard. To each his own though. Plenty of people feel differently than I do about music, audiences, when and what they will play and how much they need to get back from it. We all have to find our own balance with it. This latest way of being has worked really well for me and continues to. I do keep checking though to see if anything has changed...

Enlightenment?

Not For Me...

I don't really believe in or strive for enlightenment, or any kind of elimination or transcendence of personal interest. I don't believe in a permanent state of self-transcendence and I don't believe that a person who has achieved it has any authority to tell me or anyone else how to achieve it. I don't strive for eliminating or transcending any of the opposites of human nature. I don't strive for the victory of the light over darkness. I don't pick sides in any of the so-called "battles" within human nature. I believe all of us are both dark and light, greedy and generous, lustful and loving, violent and peaceful, thoughtful and impulsive, good and evil, cooperative and competitive, altruistic and self-interested, emotional and rational, one and separate.

To me, nothing is pure, everything is intermixed. I strive to accept the dynamic tension between these opposites, to find the unforced balance that is at the core of everything, to live in that tension and not seek to resolve it because to live in it is the only resolution I can imagine. I don't do any overt energy work. I don't try to move or change anyone's energetic configurations. I try not to interfere with their own natural unfolding and the intelligent process at its root is theirs not mine. I'm just a person who has studied unforced balance for most of my life and who can give people some tools to study it too. I help people improve their balance, open their circulation, release some of their tension, gain more mobility and responsiveness, flow more and force less, and I use the martial training games of T'ai-Chi as a teaching tool to help facilitate this.

I do pretty ordinary stuff really and the goal of this training is to become a more balanced person. I do of course recognize that there are contemplative traditions that are thousands of years old that think otherwise and have other goals, and I respect that. I don't knock believers or seekers of enlightenment, it's just not my path. There are also many different approaches to mind-body trainings and martial arts and many have real merit. I'm just talking about what feels most deeply right for me, not anyone else.

I do experience moments of self-transcendence to be sure...What I don't do is call them my true or ultimate nature and seek to experience them all the time. This seems to be something a lot of people do with these experiences, they want it to be their permanent state. I'd rather just allow them to be part of life. It's like they had an orgasm and then decided that that's their true nature, everything else is illusion, and then seek to have a continuous 24-7 orgasm. For me moments of self-transcendence are an inevitable part of life. Just as moments of self-involvement are. I tend to take them as they come. I do work on posture and alignment, relaxation and flow, opening and breathing and connecting...the self-transcendent seems to come and go on its own.