The Fasting Path - Book Review

There used to be a good review of
Buhner's Fasting Path book at spiritualityhealth.com website, but now I can't find it.
I'm posting it here in its entirety because it's evidently no longer at the website and because I thought it was helpful in understanding what the book is about.

Dead Link for anybody that might want to try and dig it up in the Internet Archives.
No reviewer name.
The Fasting Path: The Way to Spiritual, Physical and Emotional Enlightenment
Stephen Harrod Buhner
Avery 09/03 Hardcover $22.95
ISBN 1583331700

Stephen Harrod Buhner is a master herbalist and psychotherapist. He is founder and senior researcher for the Foundation of Gaian Studies, an organization that researches and educates on the sacredness of the Earth, indigenous traditions and ceremonies, sacred plant medicine, and contemplative nature spirituality. His background makes him very qualified to write about the spiritual, physical and emotional dimensions of fasting.

In many indigenous cultures, food deprivation is an essential part of rituals at important transition points in life — adolescence, middle age, old age, and death. During vision quests, individuals spend time in the wilderness alone. As one indigenous person called Igjugarjuk put it: "All true wisdom is only to be learned far from the dwellings of men, out in the great solititudes." Buhner points out that this pattern of retreat to the natural world and engaging in fasting is also part of Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Sufism, Taoism, and Christianity.

Many individuals are familiar with the use of water fasting to lose a large amount of weight or to deal with long-term chronic conditions, but this approach is also tailor-made for those seeking spiritual renewal. Buhner explains: "During deep fasting, what is called the rational mind is left behind for a time, and a different intelligence, located in the heart, is activated. During such fasts, reliance on two-dimensional sight begins to weaken, there is a thinning of the wall between us and all other things, and the organ of perception uniquely designed to perceive the sacred, the heart, begins to take on more and more importance. As deep fasts progress, as the veil between us and the spiritual world thins, the heart begins to perceive the hidden face of the sacred within everyday things."

One of the major surprises in this book is the author's enthusiastic and sophisticated examination of the major role of the heart, as known in the spiritual traditions, in fasting. Although most of us lose contact with the language of our hearts at ages four through six, this soulful connection can be reclaimed in fasting. As James Hillman has observed: "The heart brings us authentic tidings of invisible things."

Buhner discusses the changes that occur in the body during fasting, possible side effects, and some of the emotional issues that come to the surface such as survival, surrender, and trust. Fasting also forces us to deal with our bodies and the manifold meanings we give to food in our lives. The Fasting Path is a rounded and fascinating overview of this little discussed subject.

Dead Link for anybody that might want to try and dig it up in the Internet Archives.
An Excerpt from The Fasting Path: The Way to Spiritual, Physical, and Emotional Enlightenment by Stephen Harrod Buhner
Stephen Harrod Buhner discusses fasting as a path to spiritual, physical, and emotional enlightenment.
Here is an excerpt on 16 essential steps to every fast.
1. Determine if you are ready for a fast.
2. Decide what kind of fast is most supportive for you to do.
3. Arrange or set aside a special time for your fast.
4. Decide how long you are going to fast.
5. Arrange a supportive environment for the fast.
6. Begin eating a new diet to prepare your body for the fast for two or ten weeks prior to the fast.
7. If you are conducting your own fast, obtain good water and/or good foods to juice and drink during your fast.
8. Set your spiritual goals for the fast.
9. Set your emotional goals for the fast.
10. Set your physical goals for the fast.
11. Arrange sufficient time after the fast for you and your body to reintegrate and be ready for resuming daily life.
12. Keep a journal of your fast.
13. Fast with conscious attention to the process.
14. Break the fast with caring and awareness; especially make sure that you have the right kinds of foods on hand for breaking the fast.
15. After the fast, spend some time with someone who cares about you and whom you care about and tell this person about your experiences.
16. Incorporate the lessons of the fast into daily life.

UPDATE:
I found the book review online, here.
It is by Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat

Herbalist Stephen Harrod Buhner - Books and More

Herbalist Stephen Harrod Buhner
This guy is so interesting!
(He's also a psychotherapist, evidently.)

I wish he lived close by so he could teach me how to harvest my stash of medicinal plants I have on our land. That would be so much fun and what a learning experience it would be! (Remember my Walk In The Field series summer of 2009.)

Buhner's book, The Fasting Path, has been on my to-read list for quite some time.
I hadn't realized that he had written so many books or that he had so much info at his website.
Anyway, he has some good articles and some links to podcast interviews.

A few of note:
The Health Benefits of Water Fasting
and
Depth Diagnosis in the Practice of Sacred Plant Medicine
I was especially impressed with this article because he described so well something that is hard to put into words. It moved me.

LATER NOTE: I applied the article to myself—digging around in my own stuff. I think this would be incredibly draining on self to practice this on others unless you had very good boundaries and/or knew how to take care of yourself in it. END NOTE

"...you must be able to come, eventually, to love whatever you have focused your attention upon. All of nature responds to this primary act of caring, diseased organ systems or ill people not the least. So, loving is critically important but it is often difficult because disease can be so tremendously frightening...

...nothing will give up its secrets without being loved..."

(In reference to a George Washington Carver quote perhaps?)

The only recorded interview I listened to so far was
Herbs and Foods that Heal
at
herbmentor.com
Stephen Buhner Interview
publication date: Feb 16, 2008

Here's my notes containing Stephen's ginger drink recipe he gave in the recording:
(The numbers indicate approximate recording location if you want to find it yourself.)

15:40
fresh ginger root
juice it (because like everyone from the sixties I have a champion juicer ha ha)
juice 2-3 pieces about the size of my thumb
(1/2 to 1 oz ginger juice at 17:55)
then add hot water (10 oz 17:55), squeeze of lime, and honey, cayenne (1/16 tsp 17:55)
for cold/flu
more effective than other tincture combinations
moved me more into kind of a kitchen herbalism dynamic
16:40
especially for people who have gone thru middle age
ginger and cayenne stimulate blood circulation
something about ginger as a antiviral, antibacterial, immune stimulant
it does all those things incredibly well
become my primary herb for considerable number of things

24:15
disease to me is not a bad thing
we're all biodegrading and we're meant to biodegrade
his great grandfather understood that he wasn't here to cure disease, he was here to alleviate suffering.
everyone is going to die sooner or later, his job was to help them, not to defeat death
my family is filled with physicians and other than my great grandfather not a one of them knows anything about facilitating the movement into death. Weren't trained in it.

I downloaded everything I could get for recordings.
I know one recording had the wrong link info and would not load.
The website link is:
here (scroll down)
and the Buhner interview is dated 12/17/06.
Here's the direct link to a downloadable copy (Real Player format)
rm format file
(Their directory is open. Don't know if that is intended or not.)

And last link:
Buhner Books List

NOTE: Pic of Buhner from innertraditions.com

LATER NOTE:
Buhner is on sabbatical till fall 2010.
He is working on a new book due out late summer 2010.
(It's on the topic of writing and can download a sample pdf at the link.)

Walk In November

Finally got out for a walk along the river, Sunday, 8 Nov 09.
Yay!
I missed it.

The Canada Geese were on the move.
Saw lots of flocks high in the sky.


I was just messin' around in Paint Shop Pro 9 to see what I could do to make them a little more interesting.

Screen and Soft Light Layering modes to lighten, Curves to increase blue tone, Clarify for more cloud details.

And this one:



Same stuff as above only,
Add a vignette and a negative blue tone with Black and White Points Effect.
I like it.
It's certainly different.

It was fun to take pictures just so I know what it was like out that day, even though there isn't much out there interesting in November.

More Music

More music I like, some from Dawson's Creek, some not.

Respect, by Train
"Everybody needs a little re-spect..."
(Dawson's Creek Epi 404, Dawson's Creek Vol. 2 OST)

Crazy For This Girl, by Evan and Jaron
(Dawson's Creek Epi 408, Dawson's Creek Vol. 2 OST)

Your Love, by Laura Doyle
(Dawson's Creek Epi 601)

Fell In Love Without You (acoustic), Motion City Soundtrack
(Make sure it's the acoustic version; don't like the other one.)

Fleur de Saison, by Emilie Simon
Sexy, pretty video. Good for workouts.

Everwood DVD's

Everwood Season 2 was finally released on DVD this year, so I bought Season 1 and Season 2 DVD's and loved that show every bit as much as when I watched it on TV for the first time (which were reruns). I'd probably buy all the Seasons if/when they become available.

I didn't get to see Season 1 on TV, so the DVD was my first watch of that season. I wasn't all that interested in the Colin storyline. There was more info on Andy's deceased wife which I'm glad to have. I learned why he moved to Everwood, why he grew a beard, why he didn't charge a fee for his services. All having to do with his deceased wife.

epi 108, in church, talking to God.

DR. BROWN: I'm surprised this place isn't falling down right now. [gathering his thoughts] Just over eight months ago, that was the last time I knew life was worth living. All my dreams died with Julia. I wake up every morning and wish I was still asleep. See, the thing is I... my heart's still pumping and I'm still breathing. I still move in the world but, I've lost my joy.

We don't talk a lot. I don't complain to you. I don't ask for favors. I don't whine about fairness. And I never believed that you owed me anything. But I am telling you right now, I have got nothing left. I used to have a gift. Now everything I touch, everyone I touch I-is just as broken as I am. I've got two kids, who need a mother and a father. These days, I'm not much use to anyone. Let alone them. I thought I knew what you needed from me. I thought I knew what my life was about. I don't know anything. [crying] You've gotta help me. Please give me my joy back.

epi 116

DR. TROTT: I think that there's something inside of you that you need to express. You have all these thoughts about your wife. The love that you had for her. The life that you shared together. And all the things that you couldn't say. Write it down, all of it. Write a letter to her. And try, try as hard as you can to find some peace. There's a beautiful world out there, Andy. And it's happening right now.

Loved the scenery.




Lots of funny scenes with Dr. Abbott.


Everwood Transcripts



UPDATE:

Everwood Season 3 on DVD, June 2010.

There are 4 seasons in all.

I guess they changed the music on the DVD's? (See tv.com forum.)

I Will Love You - Fisher - Music

I Will Love You, by Fisher (Married couple, Kathy Fisher and Ron Wasserman)
Beautiful song.
Another Dawson's Creek (DC note below) song, Episode 414, "A Winter's Tale" (DVD only).

I guess the song was extremely popular on the Net at one time, but I didn't know about it.
See Time article.
(Dated 27 Mar 00)

The main reason why I decided to blog about it is because a FREE download of the song and a pdf of the sheet music with guitar chords is at the artist's website, fishertheband.com.
There are more free songs to download at their website.
Now, that was a nice surprise.
Generous, giving from a place of abundance.

I also liked the free song, "You" (sheet music for that too).

Follow link to MySpace and listen to more songs. I liked "Too Late."
All sad slow songs.
Nice voice.

Photo from google images.

NOTE on DC Epi 414:
It's the song that played near the end when Joey and Pacey have sex on the senior ski trip.
The DVD version plays the song "I Will Love You" by Fisher.
When the episode originally aired on TV, the song played was "Takes My Breath Away" by Tuck & Patti.

Self-Portrait Art

Wow. This is the most fabulous self-portrait I've ever seen.
Watercolor.
Almost inspires me to try that medium again.
Almost. lol

via
A View In Your Mirror a self-portrait blog.

Artist's Blog
(Larger image and poem there.)

Pete Yorn - Just Another Girl - Music

I was digging around in Dawson's Creek music and found this really nice video of Pete Yorn singing Just Another Girl on KFOG Radio. Recorded 14 Apr 09.
Very nice/good version of the song.
Also entitled "Just Another" (no "Girl").

At YouTube
OR
Google It
Google2 (Different version of the song.)

My records show the song played on the following episodes of Dawson's Creek:
#405 "A Family Way"
#618 "Love Bites"
(NOTE: The song was replaced on the DVD versions of the show.)
epguide



Yorn (b. 27 Jul 74) and Scarlet Johansson (b. 24 Nov 84)
teamed up and made an album together.
Can find some nice big photos of the two googling images.



Yorn is good looking.
They make a nice looking couple.
Only Scarlet is married to someone else.
She married Canadian actor Ryan Reynolds (b. 23 Oct 76) on 27 Sep 08. Reynolds had been engaged to Alanis Morissette earlier.

Dates/info from wiki.

Scarlett was in a recent issue of Glamour Magazine.
Article Title: Scarlett Johansson’s in Love! (but not with this guy)

"Just Another Girl" LYRICS:
You and I,
were two of a kind,
I hate to say it but you'll never relate,
what makes you tick?
It makes me smile.
You said that I should get away from it all,
and bury my head in the sand if I want to,
I think you
should thank me now.
You were lying wide awake in the garden,
trying to get over your stardom,
and I could never see you depart us
and you're my baby,
You're just another girl...

Autumn Maples

We're having an odd autumn this year. First it got windy so the few leaves that had changed color blew away. Then in addition to the wind, it got overcast and rainy. And it's been pretty much like that for the last two or three weeks, which should have been peak autumn season here. I think it froze in spots as well, cuz the trees look a little sickly in some places. The leaves are shriveled and dark, like they are going to turn an ugly black brown instead of the usual pretty golds, reds, etc. Then, another weird thing is a lot of the trees haven't even turned color yet or still have green leaves. Today it's like 30 degrees, blustery, with a light dusting of snow on the ground. I think that might be a record cold temp set today.



About the only thing with pretty autumn colors around here are the maples. So I took some pics of those yesterday.

Over The Fence

Another Autumn pic from my 2007 photography archives.

Autumn Trees

I like this picture.
Don't know why I never posted it.
From my 2007 photography archives.
Just bumped up the colors with a Soft Light Layer.

Another Photo From The Archives

Here's another photo from my 2007 archives that I tweaked.

Before:


After:


HowTo:
Two Screen layers to lighten, clarify 6, and radial blur.
Done in Paint Shop Pro 9.

Color Masking A Photo

I'm digging around in my photography archives for possible photos to play around with.
Here's one I thought might be good for color masking.



I suppose there's a dozen different ways to do this.
I did it with masking and layering.

I greyscaled a copy, increased colors, copy/paste as layer on top of original color photo.
And then created a mask and used the airbrush to "paint" back in the color where I wanted it.
I like masking with an airbrush because it's easy to "undo" if I don't like it.
I didn't know where to stop with the coloring!
I have no idea what kind of plant this is.
There were these teensy "hearts" deep within this big mass of trees/bushes on a nature walk.
Zoomed in with my S3 Canon and got this shot (cropped).

I've blogged about the airbrush masking stuff before, here.

Consciousness as Force Field

I was googling "consciousness as force field" and found this article.
Good/interesting read.

Consciousness as an Active Force
Amy L. Lansky, PhD
Revised November 1997.

"Consciousness is an active force that we can exert upon the universe, not merely a passive perception or awareness of that universe."

"Consciousness is an active force or mechanism that can, among other things, control or cause change in the human energy field, as well as, potentially, the universal field."

"Perhaps homeopathy is actually a quantum or even a higher-dimensional form of medicine."

Note: Contrast with Wilber philosophy, link.

VR Panoramas

I was googling images and ended up at zmetro.com.
Jim Zellmer (Virtual Properties)

I liked his nature photos.
And
Wow! Those VR Panoramas are really nice!



Direct links below:

One
Jepson Center for the Arts Savannah, Georgia
April 26, 2009

Two
The Statue of Liberty on Lake Mendota, Madison, WI
March 2, 2009

Three
Sunrise Siesta Key, Florida
August 11, 2008
(My fav.)


Four
Prince of Wales Hotel, Waterton Lakes National Park, Canada
July 22, 2008

Five
Yellowstone's Old Faithful at Sunrise
July 22, 2008

Six
New River Gorge Bridge, Fayetteville, WV USA
August 21, 2005

Morgue File

I was visiting the morguefile.com free stock photography place.
There are some nice "naturey" pics there.

Links, examples, follow.

DSCN1214_g.JPG
I edited the bottom part of the photo using Clone Brush and Lighten/Darken Brush in Paint Shop Pro 9.


DSCN1210.JPG
I cloned out the stuff in the bottom right side of the photo.


DSC04076.JPG
I added a Hard Light Layer is all.


100_2128.JPG
No editing, just resized and added the text.


IMG_3376_m.JPG
No editing, just resized and added text.


John Muir Quotes
The mountains are calling and I must go.
The power of imagination makes us infinite.
But though to the outer ear these trees are now silent, their songs never cease.
How glorious a greeting the sun gives the mountains!
In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks.
John Muir at Wiki.

More
Nature Quotes

UPDATE:
Sources/References for quotes here.

Smudging Gradient Lines

I can view Word Perfect graphics (*.wpg) within Paint Shop Pro 9 Browser, and when I open one, PSP9 imports it as a Meta Picture Import with multiple polygon vector layers which can be turned on/off and edited.
Interesting to fiddle with sometimes.
(Photoshop, GIMP, IrfanView all failed at viewing and/or opening *.wpg format graphics.)

For example, here's the default import result, merged/resized for blog.


After my tweaks:


What I did:
1. I turned off the layer with that white blotch at the bottom right.
2. Applied Edge Preserving Smooth at 9. Just enough to smooth any jaggies, but not smooth the tree too much.
3. Finished smoothing the "gradient" lines with the smudge brush, starting with these settings and changing the Opacity and Brush Size as needed.



The smudge brush worked pretty good in this case.
In the past, when I wanted to smooth a gradient, I'd add a very small amount of noise and/or blur and that seemed to do the trick. But in this case, I needed something a little stronger. (The "gradients" were really merged polygon layers.) Gotta be careful and not smudge too much, but can easily undo.

4. Added Borders 10 and 2 wide.

Music

Some "new" songs I've discovered recently that I like.

Grief & Sorrow,
By Toshio Masuda
Naruto (Japanese manga) Original Sound Track 3, Song Track #14

Road Regrets,
By Dan Mangan
I gave a video search link, but a regular google search might give you a better quality version of the song.

And this last song is one I heard on the TV show, The Cleaner.
Season Finale
"Trick Candles" Episode (Part 5 video if it's still online.)

Waiting For My Real Life To Begin,
By Colin Hay
American Sunshine (2009) Album
Google it.

The voice is familiar because Colin, with that wonderful Australian accent, was lead vocalist of Men at Work in the 80's. Remember the song, Down Under.

Currently at YouTube:
Acoustic version of Down Under by Colin Hay with a funny little story before the song.

Lyrics:
Waiting For My Real Life To Begin
by Colin Hay

Any minute now, my ship is coming in
I'll keep checking the horizon
I'll stand on the bow, feel the waves come crashing
Come crashing down, down, down, on me

And you say, be still my love
Open up your heart
Let the light shine in
Don't you understand
I already have a plan
I'm waiting for my real life to begin...

Removing Blue Color Cast on Blizzard Photo

I was backing up my photographs and found some older photos that I want to play with and see if I could improve them.
Here's a blizzard photo that I liked except for the harsh blue color cast.

Before:


After:


Steps:
Color Balance: Red 40, Green 50, Blue minus 70, Midtones and Preserve Luminance checked.


Highlight Midtone Shadow: Shadow minus 100, Midtone 100, Highlight 50, Relative Adjustment Method checked.


(NOTE: I started with a preset called "Bright White" Shadow minus 30, Midtone 100, Highlight 100. Then tweaked to keep a slight blue tone so my snow would show up better. You could skip Color Balance and try HMS Bright White alone, and then try Color Balance to get the blue tone you want. Probably end up at the same place.)

Clarify at 5 three times to make the trees stand out more from the background.
(Clarify is under the Adjust, Brightness and Contrast Menu area in version 9 of Paint Shop Pro.)

Add some snow:
1. New layer filled with Black, Layer Blend Mode Lighten
2. Add some Noise (Gaussian, Monochrome, 100%)
3. Skip step 3 for very fine snow specks, for bigger chunks/specks of snow add Gaussian Blur 1 at this point.
4. Now play with high Brightness and Contrast numbers until you get the amount of snow specks you want.
OR
Try Threshold which does something similar.

I used two layers of snow; one fine snow and one chunky snow.

Clarify Clouds

I discovered Paint Shop Pro 9 Clarify can add a nice depth and definition effect to my cloud photos that I can't get by sharpening or adding Contrast.

Before:


After Clarify at max twice:


Before:


After Clarify at max twice:


Setting: